Existance
by h0lyph0en1x
Summary: The fire that consumed Fuyuki City has left Shirou without self awareness nor with a ideal to hold on to. Can he truly find the meaning to his existance? And can a certain blonde help him? Shirou x Saber x Sakura Threesome
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yes!!!! A Fate/Stay Night section!!!! I feel like writing a fiction just to celebrate it xD**

**Rating: M (Mature Content)**

**Genre: General (Romance, Action, Adventure, drama)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fate/Stay Night**

_"Stop!"_

_The two combatants charged against one another, bringing their blades down in violent clashes. All around, bodies of the innocent littered the ground. The two combatants kept pushing against one another until something sparked and they both leaped away from the spot._

_"No..."_

_The ground shook with force as the two combatants kept attack one another. Their strikes caused bright and deadly sparks from points and slashes._

_"Please..."_

_The floor that held all the bodies of the slain suddenly erupted into a violent blaze. The two fighters kept charging and hacking, seemingly unaware of the large flames that are erupting all around them and taking the lives of even more innocents._

_"Stop it..."_

_The two fighters stared at one another from a distance. Both didn't talk but readied their weapons again. Suddenly, they both charged and the clashing produced an enormous explosion. When it subsided, both the combatants were gone and the little boy was left alone to deal with the dead and the flames._

_"NOOO!"_

_---_

Emiya Shirou snapped open his eyes and bolted up from his bed. With unconcious slowness, he brought a shaking hand up to his head and wiped off the cold sweat from his face. He then gave a tired sigh and dropped his arm and closed his eyes.

_"NOOO!"_

Shirou snapped open his eyes again and gritted his teeth in bitterness. Even though it was already ten years, the memory of that battle and the consequences it gave his generation was still fresh in his mind and he felt extreme sorrow at the lost of those he once knew.

"Ohayou gozaimasu semp-..."

The purpled haired freshman popped her head and was just in the middle of giving a morning greet to Shirou when she suddenly saw his pained expression and how hard he clutched his sheets. She bit her lip and the greeting died with it. She could obviously see that he was hurting and didn't want to intrude.

Shirou slowly raised his head upward and managed to mask his pain into an emotionless mask. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to feel sorrow at his expense.

"Ah, Ohayou Sakura."

The young freshman managed to give a tentative smile to him before waving a large spoon in front of her.

"Ano you had better get dressed quick sempai or Taiga-sensei will come and eat all the food."

Hearing this, Shirou gave a sigh and nodded before slowly climbing out of his bed. Satisfied, Sakura gave him a warm smile and walked back out of his room and preparing to feed the hungry "Tiger".

Shirou gave a few stretches as he stood up and made his way to the showers. His body seemed to have been in his nightmare as well for when he took the first few steps, his legs suddenly felt heavy and tired, as if he had just been running from something and just barely being able to outrun them.

"Tch, looks like it's going to be a hot shower today..."

---

Fujimara Taiga looked up from her near empty bowl of rice to see the tall figure of Shirou walking over to the table. She gave a grin and proceeded to munch on her food happily. Once he was seated, she gave him a cheerful "Ohayou Shirou!" and continued stuffing her face with rice and dishes.

Shirou cocked an eyebrow at her queer attitude but seeing Sakura's apologetic expression, he braced himself for the inevitable. He looked down and was greeted with a empty plate with some brown sauce in it. Shirou felt a eyebrow tick in irritation.

_'...She took all the meatballs **again...' **_

"You're too slow getting up Shirou! If you don't shape up and start being more lively, you'll be an old man before you reach thirty!"

"Ha, that coming from the old "Tiger Lady" across from me."

**BAM**

"Ow!! What was that for!?"

Taiga huffed in anger as she pulled back her kendo stick. "That's for insulting my age _Shirou-chan. _Now shut up and eat or do you want me to take all the beef too?"

Shirou sighed and accepted the bowl of rice from Sakura. He mumbled a quiet "Itadakimasu." and proceeded to eat his rice with the little amount of side dishes left.

---

Sakura waited patiently in the sun as Shirou began placing on his shoes. While waiting, her mind wandered around her sempai and how she came to stay with him.

-Flashback-

_The sky was darken with clouds and soaked with rain but Sakura didn't care. She kept running away from that horrible home and didn't stop once when the shouts of both Shinji and Zoken tried to stop her. All she wanted to do now was to seek shelter. The occasional blasts of mana from Zoken and the increasing build up of heat and lust in her had dramatically slowed her down but for some reason, she managed to evade them._

_Sakura sighed in relief before looking up to see where she was. Her eyes widened in surprise at seeing the large shinto styled complex. He__r mouth parted and she was barely able to utter the name of her long time crush. _

_"E-Emiya Shirou."_

_An image of her crush appeared in her mind and it immediately triggered the worms within her body. Sakura gasped in lustful pain and brought both her hands to her crotch in an attempt to sate it. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to wear out the torturous aching._

_Her entire body was aching horribly but it was her womanhood and her breasts that ached the most. They felt like little blobs of nerves that kept sending a strange mix of pleasure and pain into her mind. Sakura's feet gave way and she soon found herself kneeling on the ground with her head bowed and her hands covering her crotch tightly. The pain was just so strong within her._

_After what appeared to have been an eternity, she slowly brought her hands up again. The pain had subsided into a hard ache, which is at the very least, tolerable. Sakura stared at her hands before closing them again in humiliation and sorrow. She hugged herself as her body was rocked with her sobs. _

_"I-I shouldn't be here. S-Sempai doesn't d-deserve a person such as me in their household. I wouldn't only be a burdan and with this strange ailment, I'm not sure I can contain myself."_

_Sakura gave a bitter smile and with one last glance to the complex, turned around and prepared to leave._

_"Eh? Is that you Sakura?"_

_Her body went completely rigid with horror. _

_'No no no!' she thought in desperation. 'Sempai shouldn't have seen me! Not in this state.'_

_When he got no response, Shirou walked over to hers till rigid form and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. The touched seemed to have sent electric bolts through her entire body as Sakura suddenly jumped in fright and spun around to see his concerned face._

_"S-Sempai," she managed to utter. "W-what are you doing here?"_

_Hearing this, Shirou arched an eyebrow. Didn't she see that this complex belongs to him? He shook his head and refrained from answering. Instead, he asked his own quesiton._

_"Why are you so far away from your home and out in the rain?"_

_Sakura tensed and lowered her head. When there was no reply, Shirou knelt down in front of her and tried to get a look on her face. She shook her head fiercely and her wet purple hair went slapping in all directions._

_"Here let's go back to my home. You can talk there."_

_Sakura's eyes snapped open and she shook away his hands. When Shirou turned around, she was backing up towards a wall with an expression of fear and sorrow on her face._

_"No..." she whispered. "I-I don't belong here! I can't accept it!"_

_She tried to get away but Shirou had suddenly appeared in front of her and was holding her tightly. Sakura struggled desperately against him but the fatigue brought on by her running and fighting off of her own lust was great and she merely fell into his arms._

_Shirou gave her a worried glance. He carefully led her into the complex. Once inside, he quickly got some towels and wrapped them around her. She gave a small thanks and huddled within the towels. Shirou knelt in front of her and looked at her right into the eye._

_"Now tell me. Why were you out there and why were you so afraid?"_

_Sakura sucked in her breath and looked away. Immediately, she felt two hands gently hold her face and steer it back into Shirou's eyes. Her eyes were wide with astonishment and her cheeks immediately heated up in a healthy shade of pink. They stayed like that for about a minute before Sakura gave a shaky breath and began._

_"I-it was my grandfather, Mato Zoken-sama. He wanted me to lead something and even went so far as to put something inside of me. I felt pain in it and went back to my room but Shinji-niisama was already there. He was glaring at me and before I could do anything, he grabbed me and threw me to the bed. Then, when I was still dazed, h-he pulled up my s-skirt a-and..."_

_Sakura stopped and shook her head free of Shirou's hands. She lowered her head and quickly wiped away her tears with her hand. Her eyes opened and settled on the red marks on her wrist. It was shameful and humiliating but she shouldn't hide it from him. At least, not the entire thing._

_"S-Shinji-niisama tried to rape me but I managed to get away. I-I ran out of the house but was chased by Zoken-sama and Shinji-niisama. They wanted to bring me back so that I could be their slave."_

_Seeing Shirou's shocked face caused Sakura to look away out of shame. She couldn't tell him the entire truth. She couldn't tell him that they wanted her to summon a Servant to fight in the next Holy Grail war that would start in three years. She couldn't tell him. Not when he himself was one of the few survivors of the last one._

_Shirou stood up so suddenly that Sakura gave a small 'Eep!' in surprise. He clenched his fists rather hard and stared out into the rain. Sakura was afraid that he might go out and attack Shinji. Although a part of her was thankful he would do such a thing for her sake, she was mostly against it. After all, should he ever step foot in the house and declare his reason, he would be blasted to bits by Zoken's magic. _

_However, Shirou didn't go out and confront Shinji. Instead, he relaxed his fists and turned back to look at her. When she met his gaze, Shirou gave a small smile. _

_"Well we can say taking you back there will be a definite problem so how about this; From now on, you'll be staying here!"_

_"W-What? I-I can't do that!"_

_Sakura's face turned beet red from embarassment. She couldn't allow herself to put him in a dangerous position! If he sheltered her, he would be targeted by Zoken and Shinji should they ever find out!_

_'And besides,' she lowered her head again in shame. 'Why would he or anyone shelter a girl who was abandoned by her parents and sisters and forced to live with monsters.' _

_"Hey." Sakura looked up again and her blushed deeped when she saw Shirou kneeling in front of her again. His face was so close to her and yet, she felt as if it wasn't close enough. 'Damn you imagination.'_

_Shirou continued, unaware of her mental berating. "Look, my house is freaking empty most of the time and it only gets lively when Fugi-nee comes and starts bantering on about kendo." He grinned and placed a finger on her lip. "A system of equal exchange. I let you stay here for as long as you want. In return, you help me make this place a little less like a haunted house. Deal?" He held out his hand towards her and gave another grin._

_Sakura stared up at his happy expression and felt a swelling in her heart. She couldn't detect any lies or misleading in his features and she felt genuine happiness at being accepted. So, at that moment, she decided to accept his proposal. She stood up from the seat and allowed the towels to slide off of her as she gently held his hand in hers and gave a soft smile._

_"Deal..."_

-End Flashback-

Since then, Sakura had always harbored the fear that Shirou would one day pay for his crimes against Zoken and Shinji. However, Sakura was surprised that Shinji didn't even know she was staying at his complex and kept demanding her to either go back to the Mato mansion or reveal the location of where she was staying. She would always pursue and for some reason, Shinji never finds out where she stays.

Sakura had learned much on Shirou. For starters, she learned that he had a startling indepth knowledge of human anatomy as well as mechanical components. She was still partially reeling from the full blown lecture he gave the other night on a complete explanation of the 'spleen'.

_'I never knew such an organ had so much uses...'_

She also learned that Shirou was amazingly talented in archery and had even been there when he shot through seven arrows from at least a hundred yards away. Each had landed on the bulls eye and each had split the previous arrow all the way to the tip. However, he was also very good in close combat as well. He showed that when he was practicing kendo with Fugimura-sensei. He had no problem fending off her attacks and even landed a few choice hits during the spar.

However, what truly surprised, no_, shocked _her was the fact that Emiya Shirou was a master in the arts of Reinforcement and Trace sorcery. Although Sakura knew next to nothing on the Mato clan's spells and techniques, her early years studying as a Tosaka had showed that out of all types, Reinforcement was one of the most difficult as it required the user to have a very good understanding of whatever it is that they are reinforcing. Reason for that was that the user had to reinforce each and every type of molecule or cell of the part in order to successfully complete the reinforcement. If it doesn't work and the user gets one part wrong, he could completely mangle up the object he was trying to reinforce.

Although Reinforcement is a difficult type of sorcery, it completely paled in comparison in both difficulty and uselessness (Sakura would never admit it but she does think it to be useless) to Trace sorcery. That strange branch of sorcery requires so much mana and concentration just to transmute an object to whatever you want that only high level mages could even think of using it. Furthermore, the object they transmute is limited to raw components needed and the mana to sustain it. Even more annoying is the fact that the tracing of an object leaves to quality degrading, making it of lower value to something identical and constructed normally.

However, Shirou's tracing is unique in the sense that he doesn't even use raw materials in tracing. Shirou seems to have a natural ability in creating various types of bladed weapons and although quality degradment _is _there, it is to such a low degree that Shirou can literally swing it through a boulder and it wouldn't break.

Shirou would often train on his tracing skills and create any type of bladed weapon imaginable. Swords, axes, spears, all were created by his tracing and all were used by him to test durability as well as his own combat skill.

Sakura allowed a soft smile to grace her features. Shirou had definitely gave her quite a bit of surprise ever since she decided to live with him. Still, it was good type of surprise and she feels that Shirou, although not very amazing as a sorceror _yet, _he would probably become a powerhouse should he train his magic on the right spots.

Sakura was suddenly jarred out of thoughts by a hand waving in front of her. She blinked and tilted her head up to see Shirou staring right back at her with an arched eyebrow. He suddenly grinned at her. "Isn't it a little too early to space out Sakura?"

Sakura blushed lightly and gave a weak laugh. In the inside, she was mentally berating herself for spacing out right there in the open. _'Stupid! Why did I space out right there in front of Sempai? It's time for school and here I am thinking on the past!'_

"Sakura, you sure you're okay?"

Shirou's face appeared right in front of her and she nearly jumped away in surprise. She gave a smile and nodded. "I'm alright. I was just thinking how good this morning is." Shirou's expression literally screamed "Yeah right" but he let it go and simply nodded.

Sakura gave a sigh of relief. At least he didn't pursue the weak explanation. "Oi, Sakura! You coming?" she spun around and saw Shirou already at the sidewalk, waving towards her. "H-Hai!" she quickly walked over to Shirou and gave him a smile as they began walking over towards the high school.

---

"Sempai, are you going to come back with me?" Shirou looked up from his locker and saw Sakura leaning over towards him. He gave her a apologetic smile and shook his head. "Sorry" he replied. "But I feel like walking around the city for a bit." he didn't need to say it but the message was clear. He wanted to visit some ruined sights still seen in the city.

Sakura understood and nodded to him. She didn't even need to hear the words to know that Shirou had wanted some time alone. The hollow look that would appear from time to time in his eyes was especially visible today and she knew the reason. Today was the same day that the enormous fire had nearly engulfed much of Fuyuki City. It was also the day that changed his life forever. Sakura gave Shirou a soft smile. "Okay then. But be sure to come back or the food will get cold." She then turned and with a wave, walked back to their complex.

Shirou sighed as he finished packing what he needed in his briefcase and prepared to walk away when he suddenly heard a few girlish squealing and the sound of a very distinctive guy's voice. He narrowed his eyes and walked away, not wanting to be talking with that prick.

"Ah, if it isn't Emiya Shirou-kun."

He cursed bitterly at his luck and turned around to see Mato Shinji smirking at him flanked with a group of girls, most likely from the archery class. Shirou narrowed his eyes and heaved an annoyed sigh. "What do you want Shinji?"

The blue-haired pretty boy's smirk widened even more. "Why Shirou," he replied with an arrogant tone. "We were just talking about how great it would be to hang out at a nice little cafe these girls were talking about but there's a problem. You see, I have washing duty today and won't be able join these lovely ladies in the cafe. Then, I suddenly thought of you!" He leaned over and leaned a elbow on his shoulder.

"You love helping people don't you? How about helping me out here and wash the archery classroom eh? It would mean a lot to me."

Shirou mentally snorted. _'Yeah right, you arrogant bastard.'_

One of the girls gently tugged on Shinji's sleeve. When she got his attention, she asked him in a tentative voice. "Is it alright to do this? I mean, we can always reschedule..."

"What are you worrying about? Shirou loves being the 'People's Saviour'! I'm sure he doesn't have any problems with something as small as this. Right Shirou?"

Shirou narrowed his eyes dangerously and shrugged off Shinji's elbow. "Sorry, I don't feel like following your request. How about you ask some scared freshman to do it for you?"

Judging from Shinji's shocked and slightly fearful expression told Shirou that he wasn't expecting that dismissal nor did he prepare a 'Plan B' in case this didn't work. Shirou felt a stir of satisfaction swell in him. The spoiled pretty-boy finally got denied.

Shinji's expression turn to that of anger. "Why you!" he moved forward and despite the protests of the girls next to him, grabbed Shirou by the cuff of his collar. "How dare you deny my request! Who do you think you are?"

Shinji's reply was a vice-like grip on his neck and being lifted up from the ground. The girls stopped their protests and stared in amazement as Mato Shinji, the jock in Archery, was lifted easily off the ground by Emiya Shirou, a person who looked more like a gymnast, as if he was a feather.

Shirou narrowed his eyes and for a moment, they flash white with mana as his grip tightened. He snarled at him and replied in a rather tight voice. "I'm not some rug you can simply walk all over Mato-teme. Unless you can back up your pompous requests, I suggest you pick on someone your own size." He let go of Shinji's neck and walked away with his briefcase on his shoulder.

Shinji gasped for air and held onto his neck tenderly. The girls immediately swarmed over him and asked if he was okay but he ignored them. He was denied! Shinji was never denied a thing in his life besides that whore who abandoned their home. Even more humiliating was that he was denied rather forcefully in front of those girls. His eyes narrowed in pure anger and hatred. His ego was wounded right then and there and the person responsible was walking away with his back turned!

_'He's going to pay!'_

The brief startled cries from the girls alerted Shirou immediately. He turned to see Shinji running towards him with a raised face and a face pulled into a hateful snarl. Shirou sighed and briefly tapped into his magic circuit. he readied his position carefully and the moment that Shinji was close enough, he reared back and swung his fist forward.

**Crunch!**

A sickening crack was heard and Shinji was hurled back to the group of girls in a great moaning fit. The right side of his face was already swollened and it looked like his nose was bleeding as well. Shirou sighed again but this time, in satisfaction. _Man that was a good stress reliever!_

"I suggest you treat that cheek or it's going to be a dark purple by tomorrow. Oh and by the way, I don't appreciate you trying to attack me. The next time you try it again, I'll make sure you get sent to the hospital in a stretcher. Got it?"

Shirou's response was a even louder moan of pain and the immense look of fear in Shinji's eyes. Shirou gave one last glare towards Shinji before turning and walking away. He had wasted enough time dealing with that self-absorbed prick.

---

Shirou walked through the quiet night, feeling nostalgia rise up like bile in his throat. There, in front of him, were charred black remains of a building. In his eyes, the ruins began to distort and blend. The night sky suddenly lightened with a orange hue, the blacken ruins suddenly bursted up in roaring flames, and the quiet evening was suddenly pierced with the screams of those being burned alive.

The feelings that rose up within him was just too much for him. He dropped down on all four and lowered his head, being unworthy to see such sorrow. Not when he himself was saved while others weren't. The ground below him splashed with tiny droplets as Shirou felt tears drip down his eyes, temporarily washing away the feelings of guilt.

_"I had always aspired to be a 'Protector of Justice'. I wanted to always protect people and yet, whenever I do, another one dies as a consequence."_

Shirou smiled sadly at the memory. '_Forgive me, Tou-sama. I'm afraid I can't follow your ideals.'_ Shirou had at one time, been inspired by his foster father's conviction and with the memory of his salvation still vivid, he had immediately tried to follow in his father's footsteps. Of course that had definitely failed.

The first thing he tried to do was to save his father when Shirou found out he was dying. When he was sent to the hospital for therapy, Shirou had attempted some limited Reinforcement on surgical equipments before they were used. The effects were disastrous. Shirou had learned too late that the equipments weren't meant for his father. When the surgery for the other person was taking place, the reinforced equipments probed far harder than normal and the person ended up dying from a failing heart and pierced lungs.

To make matters worse, his father didn't make it and he too died soon after. That memory had scarred Shirou immensely and although he continued to help others, there were still times when others were hurt from his actions and Shirou just felt that he couldn't do anything about it. He eventually abandoned the ideal as an impossible dream and settled with protecting only those that he cared about.

Shirou sighed, being mentally drained, and after what appeared like a century, finally stood up from his position. He heaved his schoolcase on his shoulder and prepared to move away when a sound suddenly caught his attention. He turned around and listened. After about ten seconds, the sound came again and this time, he heard it clearly. It was the sound of metal striking against metal, _hard. _There were no industries or forges in these areas so it _had _to be someone or two someones.

Curiosity taking over, Shirou crept over towards a tree and overlooked the streets. There was nothing for a moment but then, a flash of red and blue caught his attention. He quickly made a reinforcement into his eyes and narrowed further. To his surprise, the red and blue blurs were actually two people!

One was dressed almost entirely in blue with white platings. He has short-blue hair with a pony-tail on the back and fierce looking red eyes. In his hand, was a deadly looking red spear with strange markings and barbs on the blade. The man grinned, gave a twirl and slammed his spear on the ground, sending red energy in the air.

The other person was dressed in black armor and a red coat. His hair was shaped in Shirou's own type of style although it's color is white instead of red. His eyes were of the same amber shade as his own and his face similar to his but a darker shade. The man twirled two daggers into the symbol of yin and yang.

_Yin and Yang..._

Shirou's eyes widened. _'What the hell?' _his mind suddenly went into overdrive. _'Those daggers, how can he have them? I have the set in my home!' _He gave one more glance to the weapons. Yes, they were definitely Kansho and Bakuya. But how in the world did this stranger get them? They were sealed up in a hard lock vault and Shirou himself only traces the weapons.

Apparently, his shock had caused him to slip up as he was soon discovered by the person in blue. "Eh what's this?" the spearman narrowed his eyes towards Shirou. "A spectator eh? Well I'll just have to teach you not to peep then huh?" The spearman gave a fierce grin and raced towards Shirou.

Shirou barely had the time to dodge the stab before being slammed by the shaft of the spear. With a grunt of pain, he landed on the ground and scrambled back to his feet. Even though Shirou had confidence in his skills at defending himself, he instinctively knew that this guy would kill him with the chance and his survival instincts kicked in. He ran for it.

"Eh? Little shit tries and run? Ha!" the spearman grinned and leaped into the air. The person in red stared at the scene before dissappearing away. His first priority is to ensure the safety of his master. Other lives will have to wait after.

Shirou panted in exhertion as he ran through the city. Behind him, the spearman was simply leaping through buildings, toying with the orange-haired boy. Shirou stopped in front of a slide that survived the Fuyuki Fire and turned around to face the approaching spearman.

"So you decided to stop running eh?" The spearman smirked. "That's good. At least now you can die quickly!" He took his spear and gave a hard stab straight towards Shirou.

It clanged with something else.

Shirou smirked at the shocked spearman as he just finished Tracing a dagger. He made a quick reinforcement on it and dashed forward. Once close enough, he spun around and used the momentum to increase his swing.

**Clang!**

The spearman managed to block the blow. As Shirou jumped back, the spearman grinned at him. "So," he spoke out in a respectable tone. "You know how to fight and even know how to trace eh? That's definitely a rare occurance. What's your name brat?"

Shirou narrowed his eyes. He traced another dagger and reinforced it as well. "It's Emiya Shirou." he held both his daggers out and the spearman stared. They were the same pair of daggers belonging to that blasted Servant he just fought. _'Did he trace it at first glance? Impossible!'_

The spearman set forth his spear in a stabbing motion. "Well then Emiya Shirou. When they ask how you died in the afterlife, tell them that the Servant Lancer gave you a hole in the chest!" he charged forward and slammed his spear down onto Shirou's two daggers.

**Clang!**

Shirou gritted his teeth in exhertion. This guy's strong! His attacks are full of force and his strikes are brutal. It took much of Shirou's concentration just to hold up against Lancer's jabs and slashes.

_'Dammit! I need a edge! I can't hope to beat this guy.'_

Unknown to Shirou, his right arm suddenly began glowing and strange tatoo markings appeared on his hand. The result was him unconciously pouring large amounts of mana in an attempt to defeat Lancer. Shirou gritted his teeth and poured even more mana onto himself. Behind the two opponents, a mana circle was growing in strength and a figure was slowly beginning to materialize.

"It's the end now brat!" Lancer leaped into the air and hurled his spear with all his might. "**Gae Bolg!**"

Shirou jumped back and avoided the spear. However, to his surprise, the spear turned and came at him again even faster than before. Thinking quickly, Shirou quickly threw away both daggers and traced a shield from the hardest materials that came to mind. He just managed to reinforce the shield as the spear slammed into it like a missile.

The shield shattered instantly but the spear lost it's momentum as well. The explosion caused by the shattered shield launched Shirou from his feet and slammed him onto the base of a tree. He slumped down onto the ground with a groan of pain. Every nerve in his body simply screamed in pain and fatigue. He barely had the strength to lift his head up to see the grinning face of Lancer over him.

"That was a good defence but it ends now boy." He took his spear and raised it up above his head. "DIE!"

**Clang!**

Both Shirou and Lancer turned to see a girl blocking the blow with a sword. With a powerful swing, the girl knocked Lancer back several feet. Lancer narrowed his eyes at the new opponent. However, one glance at that sword and he immediately decided on a retreat. _'Damn, I can't believe **he **is in the war too.'_

Shirou stared up at the girl from his position. She was to him, _beautiful. _Her golden blonde hair is tied up in a elaborate braid, completely revealing her young features. Her soul catching blue eyes stare out calmly ahead and her body, although covered by steel armor and dress, can be seen as well shaped. _'A sharpened sword... honed to a deadly grace...'_

The girl kept her readied stance before lowering her sword and turning her attention to the orange-haired boy next to her. After a long moment of analyzing him, she introduced herself. "Servant Saber. I ask of you, are you my Master?"

Shirou blinked and felt horror grip him. _'Master?' _He reluctantly looked down on his right hand and saw it there; the three marks signifying one as a Master. _'Oh no... The Holy Grail War has started again.'_

"Yeah... I guess I _am _your master." He looked up and narrowed his eyes. "My name is Emiya Shirou."

---

**A/N: Well, this is a first. First time I ever wrote so much. Anyways, certain things to explain. Zoken had implanted the worms in Sakura right when he adopted her but the worms are to increase her sexual fustration right? Well I figure four years old is a little too young to feel sexual fustration so I delayed the administration of the worms until she's twelve years old. Also, I made it so that Sakura doesn't live with the Matos nor did I make Shinji rape her. After all, he's too much of a prick to get such a nice catch, voluntarily or not xD.**

**Anyways, when deciding on pairings, Shirou/Saber is pretty much a shoe in but I might add Sakura in just because it was kinda fun writing about her. So it might be a Shirou/Saber/Sakura three some. Time will just have to tell eh?**

**One thing for sure is that Rin won't have a pairing. Nothing personal against the Rin/Archer fans but if I do that then it won't fit with the plot.**

**Now, to address the slight OCness of one Emiya Shirou, I'm experimenting just what he might do if he abandoned the 'Save everyone' ideal. He still suffers the lost of self awareness due to the fire but he won't try to make everyone happy regardless of his own life now. Instead, he will be most likely seeking the answer to his own existance. Kinda like Kotomine.**

**--**

**Edit: As you know, this is a minor edited version, just something I saw and beat myself up at for not noticing. Anyways, I failed to mention Shirou's knowledge in this stuff tool so I'll explain it. Because Shirou is different in this story, he naturally doesn't spend all his time trying to protect people. With this extra time, Shirou will research as to just _why _the enormous fire started anyways and of course, that leads to the Holy Grail War. **

**Now to address Shirou being so much more powerful in his branch sorcery. Because Shirou doesn't spend all his time trying to help others, he has more free time and therefore, more time to devote to training. Sakura knows of this because Shirou literally treats her like family and his magic sensing skills are more enhanced than the canon version. He can feel that she holds a good amount of mana as well and therefore, doesn't try to hide the fact that he's a magus.**

**Note: I might go and re-edit this even more but for now I just decided to correct a few grammar mistakes ;**

**Okay with those things aside... REVIEW!!!!!!!!**

**-Phoenix**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: wahhh I think my fingers are dead. I had absolutely nothing to do today so I basically typed out this chapter in about ... 4 to 5 hourish? Iono cause I took alot of breaks :P**

**Marine Brother Shran: I didn't know about how Shirou's persona was like in Heaven's Feel cause I haven't played that route but rest assure! I'll know soon!**

**Epsilon Zeta: ... No they won't be like brothers. Shirou hated him in the canon and he hates him here. You'll know the reason soon. (Like in the chapter after this one or that one...)**

**Dias of All Final: Thanks xP**

_The woman kept her readied stance before lowering her sword and turning her attention to the orange-haired boy next to her. After a long moment of analyzing him, she introduced herself. "Servant Saber. I ask of you, are you my Master?"_

_Shirou blinked and felt horror grip him. 'Master?' He reluctantly looked down on his right hand and saw it there; the three marks signifying one as a Master. 'Oh no... The Holy Grail has started again.'_

_"Yeah... I guess I am your master." He looked up and narrowed his eyes. "My name is Emiya Shirou."_

_---_

Saber felt her eyes widened slightly. "Emiya...Shirou." her eyes clouded over as memories of her past Master came to mind. However, she quickly shook it away and acknowledged Shirou with a nod of the head. "Can you stand?"

Shirou gave a lopsided grin towards her. "I may look like a bag of flesh and bones but..." he slowly stood up and stretched, cracking numerous bones in his body. "I'm more resilient than others." He reinforced his body and stretched some more, popping a number of bones into place.

If she was disgusted, Saber didn't show it. She merely nodded to his answer and waited until he was ready. All the while her mind raced as numerous thoughts flooded her head. All were centered around her Master.

_'Emiya Shirou... Can he truly be his son? If so, then he doesn't look anything like his father and yet...' _Saber's eyes narrowed at the seemingly effortless flow he directed when he was reinforcing himself. _'He too is a master in reinforcement.' _Even though she was extremely curious, she refrained from asking the obvious question. She will learn in due time.

Shirou grunted as he popped one final bone into place before nodding to Saber. "Alright then. We should go back to my home. I can't imagine how worried Sakura will be." He turned and grinned at Saber. "I hope you don't mind that we don't take the road. It seems to slow that way." He turned and leaped up until he stood on top of a building.

Saber blinked and looked up at him beckoning her. She dutifully followed and leaped up as well. Together, they both ran on top of the building in amazing speed, jumping over buildings and houses as they edged closer and closer to the Emiya complex.

As soon as the complex was in sight, Shirou immediately knew something was wrong. Thanks to his reinforced eyesight, he could clearly see that girl, Tosaka Rin standing in front of the complex staring at Sakura who stood rigid in front of the door and with an expression of fear. With a start, Shirou noticed that the man who was dressed in red was standing next to her with his arm crossed.

_'So,' _He thought in annoyance. _'That man is a Servant too. Judging from what I saw earlier, He is too calm to be a Berserker and he didn't use magic as a attack so that means he's either a Archer, Assassin, or a Rider.' _Shirou narrowed his eyes. _'Regardless of class, he's threatening Sakura and that's unforgiveable in my eyes.'_

Saber, who was calmly analyzing the situation, concluded that the female Master and her white haired Servant are threatening someone close to her own Master. She narrowed her eyes and readied her sword. If they were to fight, then she will make sure that this Servant will at least be out of comission for the war.

_"We attack together_." Saber snapped her head and turn to see Shirou nodding towards her. At the same time, he traced a bow and a sword. At first, Saber thought it was any type of thin, double edged sword but upon reading the inscriptions that appear right after, her eyes widened in shock.

_'King Solomon's sword!' _Saber blinked and eyed it closer to see if it was a true. Indeed, it was the lengendary Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar, the emerald studded sword that defeated the great demon, Fulah-zereh. Saber watched in facination as Shirou notched the sword onto the bow and pulled the string hard. As he did this, he reinforced the sword and poured a good amount of mana into it. The sword's emeralds soon began glowing as stored energy started to move and enchant the blade with increased hardness. _'To be able to even trace a weapon like that, what **is **he?' _

_"A Tracer and your Master." _Shirou grinned at her dumbfounded expression. _"Don't be so surprised Saber. After all, our connection as Master and Servant is enhanced with the sheer amount of mana used to summon you." _He then narrowed his eyes towards the pair and with a twang of the string, released the mana charged sword. It seared across the night sky in a emerald flame and raced towards its target: Tosaka Rin.

---

Rin stood calmly in front of Sakura and gave her a leveled stare. "I won't ask again Sakura, _where is Emiya Shirou?_" her eyes narrowed and she took another step closer towards her.

Sakura leaned against the door, afraid of what will happen should Rin get angered. A part of her raged with hatred against Rin. After all, wasn't she one of the three people who abandoned her to a life of torture and misery? Her eyes narrowed a mana flashed on her right arm briefly. "I've said it already _Tosaka-san._" Her voice, although softly spoken, was laced with venom when she said 'Tosaka-san.' "I don't know where Shirou-sempai is and even if I did, I wouldn't reveal the location to someone like you."

"Oh?" Rin arched an eyebrow towards the purple-haired girl. "And what did I do to warrant such hatred coming from you?" She was confused. Although this girl looked strangely like her mother, she has purple hair and eyes, something neither of her parents had.

Sakura narrowed her eyes even more. "If you don't know," she replied in a tight voice. "Then it would be futile to tell you." She turned her back from the lithe girl in front of her. "Now if you would excuse me, I have to prepare dinner."

Archer, who was calmly listening the bantering of his Master, suddenly grew alert. He immediately grabbed Rin and pulled her to him just as a emerald flame slammed into the ground on where she stood. He felt her tense up and he couldn't blame her. A second too late and she would've been turned into a smoldering pile of flesh and bones. He turned his attention upward and reinforced his eyes. There, he saw two people getting closer and closer.

One of them is a blonde-haired girl in blue clothes and white armor. In her iron hands held a very distinct sword. Archer's eyes widened in surprise. _'That sword... Excalibur!' _The servant revealed herself with that sword. Archer narrowed his and readied his two falchions. _'So... It is King Arthur himself whom I must fight against.'_

However, Archer was stunned when Saber suddenly leaped out of the way. Now the one directly in front of him is a teenage boy with orange-hair and a bow aimed directly to him. For some reason, the boy's appearance jolted something in his sealed memories, effectively halting him for a second.

Seeing the servant falter, Shirou immediately fired another weapon towards the servant. _"Saber! The servant will either dodge it or deflect it. When that happens, he will be unmoveable for a brief amount of time. During that brief moment, I want you to go and attack him with as much force as you can." _His servant nodded and readied her sword, preparing herself for the chain of events.

Seeing the weapon searing towards him, Archer immediately pushed Rin to safety and leaped out of the way but to his surprise, the weapon made a arc from where it was about to land and soared up to meet him. "Tch," he muttered. "Looks like I have to use it after all." he concentrated a large amount of mana onto his hands and immediately, seven blooming shields shaped like flowers appeared in front of him. "**Rho Aias!**"

The weapon slammed into the outer shield and to his surprise, completely obliterated it without even slowing down. It kept attacking shield after shield until it finally shattered at the fifth but not before destroying that layer as well._ 'Such an enormous power, just what type of arrow was that?'_

Before Archer could comprehend the situation, Saber already appeared in back of him with her sword above her head and in a perfect striking postion. He tried to move away but her sword struck down hard and he fell with the blow. His back was heavily damaged from that one attack and he fell to the ground in a tumbling heap.

_---_

Shirou grinned in success. It worked perfectly. Now that Servant is pretty much crippled and that only leaves the Master to contend with. _'After all, how hard can she be?'_

Shirou's answer came rather quickly. Multiple bolts of energy seared over towards him and he was forced to leap out of the way. He cursed at seeing that girl's smirk. She held her fist and with some chanting fired another volley of bolts towards him_. 'Okay... so this isn't going to be as easy as I thought._'

The volley of bolts were immediately shattered by his reinforced swords as they raced over to their own target. Rin quickly moved out of the way and noted that the ground gave way to the sheer power from those weapons. She felt a brief moment of fear take over her_. 'He's serious! He really will try to kill me!' _Although Rin was taught to be merciless in battle, she never truly held those lessons to heart. However, this boy, Emiya Shirou, is fully intent on ending her life. That revelation shook her deeply and she fired even more bolts out of fear.

Suddenly, the ground shook and a large blast of cement and other debris showered everyone. Rin shook away the bits of dust from her vision and watched in horror as her servant laid on the ground, unmoving. Shirou's own Servant landed close by and readied her sword for a killing blow.

_'No!' _Rin narrowed her eyes to deadly slits and fired a heavily charged blast of energy. Perhaps it was the abrupt way it was sent or that she didn't sense it in time. But whatever the reason, Saber was caught unprepared and the blast sent her hurtling to a nearby lamp post.

"Archer!" Rin raced over and knelted next to her unconcious servant. He didn't move at all and she cursed her luck. Her Servant is unconcious, her mana reserve is low, and Shirou and his Servant looked as if they suffered any damage at all. _'Damn! If only I wasn't distracted by Sak-'_

Rin's thought was abruptly halted as a long metal spike slammed onto the post next to her. Her eyes were wide in shock and fear and she slowly turned her head to look at the weapon. It was a long metal spike connected to a even longer chain. She turned her head back and saw that the chain being held by a woman with violet hair and a blinder. _'Another Servant?' _A figure walked up behind the woman and both Sakura and Shirou felt their eyes widen in surprise. _"Sakura!?"_

---

Sakura watched in surprise as Shirou fired what looked like flaming balls of energy to the Servant. She was definitely surprised when Shirou had appeared with a Servant. That meant that he will be in the war and there is a strong possibility that he will die. She placed her hand to the pegasus shaped necklace that Shirou had given her for her birthday and held onto it tightly, unaware that she was channeling a large amount of mana to it. Her right hand suddenly glowed a purple light and the markings of a Master became etched to the skin.

_'Sempai is battling for me...' _Her eyes warmed considerably at that tibit of information. _'However, he is risking his life and I'm here simply standing, completely useless.' _The mana surrounding her necklace increased even more.

_'I promised Sempai that I will be able to stand for myself too.' _Sakura narrowed her eyes in determination. _'And I **will **keep that promise no matter what!'_

The mana circle behind her suddenly dissappated and in its place, a lithe, seductive looking woman with violet hair and a black blinder stood in back of her. Sakura jumped slightly and turned around to stare at the woman. After about a minute of silence, the woman tilted her head up and spoke out in a sultry voice. "Servant Rider at your service my Master."

"S-Servant?" Sakura looked shocked beyond comprehension. "B-but how?"

Rider simply stood there, unmoving but she did manage to give Sakura a supporting smile. "Does that matter right now?" Sakura suddenly realized the situation she was in and immediately turned to look back to the scene of the battle just as a large explosion rocked the sidewalk. Seeing Rin's form, she narrowed her eyes and turned back to her new Servant.

"A person dear to me is battling with that girl. If possible, can you help support him?" Rider nodded with a smile and leaped over the furnitures. Once she landed outside, she immediately held out her weapons, two long iron nails and threw one of them with respectable force. It imbedded itself deeply onto a lamp post next to Rin. The Master started and turned around. Sakura walked over behind her Servant and gave Rin a hard stare, completely unlike her usual persona.

"You aren't welcome here Tosaka-sempai. Please leave or I will have to use force as well." Rin stared at her for a few moments before tossing a jewel to the ground. The jewel exploded in a flash of red energy and when it disappated, both Rin and the Archer Servant dissappeared.

Sakura sighed in relief and gave a smile of thanks to her new Servant. Rider responded with a small smile of her own before pulling back her imbedded iron nail. It sailed through the air and she deftly caught it in her hand before readying it as both Shirou and Saber made their way towards them.

There was an awkward silence as both Saber and Rider held their respective weapons ready, completely untrusting of the opponent. Shirou simply settled for staring in shock at Sakura while Sakura herself met his gaze with her own bewildered gaze. For seemed like an eternity, no one spoke. Then, Shirou broke the awkward silence with the most rediculous phrase at the moment.

"Um... I'm home."

It effectively dissolved the tension as Saber gave her Master a curious glance while Rider relaxed and lowered her weapons. Shirou felt a moment of satisfaction before turning his attention to Sakura.

She blinked once.

Twice.

Thrice.

Then she suddenly gave him a warm smile. "Welcome home Sempai." However, her gaze suddenly became troubled as she glanced over towards Saber. "I didn't know you became a Master."

Shirou glanced at Saber who remained figilant and gave a sheepish laugh. "Heh well I was kind of attacked by Lancer and I guess I summoned her through desparation." Seeing Sakura's (And Saber's) surprised expression, he adopted a sheepish look and was just about to explain it more clearly when suddenly, all of them tensed from a overflow of malevolent mana.

Shirou felt cold sweat forming on him from the sheer force of that mana. It was heavy and had full of malice. It made him think that whatever it is can beat all of them without much force.

"Ah! I finally found you Onii-chan!" All four turned towards the voice. There stood an enormous figure bathed almost entirely in black. The parts that weren't clearly displayed powerful muscles and a deadly looking club... blade... thing. In front of the giant, there stood a petite little girl in a purple jacket and lavender dress. Her pale skin and European features clearly told them that she was a foreign visitor.

Saber immediately moved up and held her sword ready while Rider did the same for Sakura. Shirou narrowed his eyes and spoke out clearly to the little girl, all the while concentrating his tracing and reinforcing . "Who are you?"

The girl pinched the helm of her skirt and did a little curtsy to him. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you Onii-chan. My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern of the Einzbern family." Shirou visibly stiffened. Einzbern family... That meant that she is one of the vessels of the Holy Grail. It also meant that her mana is far superior to most.

The little girl tilted her head and gave them a quizzical look. "Aww, did onii-chan already get someone to join him?" Her eyes narrowed and she suddenly gave a cold smile. "Then I guess I'll just have to kill her first!"

Shirou immediately grew alert. "Saber!" His Servant immediately raised her sword. Behind, Sakura gave fearful look towards the giant. As if to respond to her Master's fear, Rider immediately moved forward as well and raised her two nails. Both Saber and Rider gave each other a nod. They will work together for now as they have a much bigger threat looming over them.

Shirou finished tracing his long bow and immediately began tracing a sword. While tracing, he immediately poured some mana onto Saber as well, strengthening her resistance. Illya's grin grew even wider. "You're so cute Onii-chan, protecting that girl. But..." Behind her, the looming figure moved and a red light appeared from where his right eye should be. "This ends!"

The Servant gave an enormous roar that shook the ground. Then, he suddenly charged forward with his stone club blade raised. Saber narrowed her eyes and raised her own sword. Excalibur gleamed brightly in the night sky as Saber awaited the giant Servant's advance.

Rider crouched low and took the initiative. She threw one of her long nails and charged it briefly with mana. The nail suddenly seared through the sky and aimed straight for the Servant's neck. The Servant didn't see it and didn't block it as the nail raced over and landed on the Servant's exposed neck.

**Thud...**

The nail had simply bounced off of the Servant's neck and the giant didn't even notice it. He merely gave a roar and swung his enormous weapon down. Saber raised her sword and managed to deflect the blow but she was surprised at the sheer force that blow had in it. Her arms nearly buckled from the force despite her many years of training.

"Ha!"

Saber leaped into the air and gave a powerful down strike. The Servant merely raised his arm and deflected the blow with his stone blade. Saber immediately knew that normal attacks wouldn't even do damage at all because of this Servant's sheer brute strength. She immediately began making thoughts for a second plan.

Suddenly, two nails were immeded deeply to his collar bone. The Servant let loose an enormous roar and tried to shake off the nails but it hung tightly. Rider gave a small smirk and leaped up to the Servant's back. She pulled on the chains like a normal rider would with a horse.

The Servant gave another roar but was forced to expose his neck to Saber. Saber immediately took the oppurtunity and rushed forward. When close enough, she leaped up and aimed for the Servant's exposed neck.

"Berserker! Stop playing with them and finish it off!"

At the sound of his Master's voice, Berserker suddenly gave a thunderous roar and grabbed Rider in a vice grip. He waited until Saber was close enough and threw the struggling Rider straight towards her. She collided with Saber and together, they both tumbled to the ground. Berserker then yanked out the two chains and tossed them aside before charging forward to the two recovering Servants.

He gave a powerful swipe from his left arm and knocked Rider back just as she was getting up. The blindfolded Sevant gave a small gasp of pain as she flew through the sky and crashed heavily to the wall on the sidewalk. Rider struggled to get up from the wall but her movements were slow and painful. Saber gritted her teeth and used her sword as a crutch to help her stand. However, she wasn't prepared at all when Berserker suddenly swung his massive stone blade at her direction.

**Squelch!**

A sickening sound rang out for everyone to hear and Shirou watched in something akin to horror as Saber landed on the ground in front of him. She was a bloody mess. Her armor was heavily dented and damaged. Her sword, although undamaged, had lost much of its golden light. However the big problem is the back of her waist. It was teared to such an extent that Shirou could see the sinew trying to hold it back in place. If Berserker had swung harder, he would have cleaved her in two.

_'My God... Saber!'_

Saber gritted her teeth and once again used her sword as a crutch just as Berserker walked forward. She couldn't even raise her blade to defend herself as Berserker slammed his stone blade down towards her. She closed her eyes and accepted her fate. _'I only regret having to die so early into the war.' _The blade slammed downwards and another sickening sound was heard.

**Squelch!**

Saber immediately snapped her eyes open in shock as she felt strong arms push her out of the way just as the blade swung downwards. She now looked up and to her horror, saw her own Master standing in her place. The blade that landed on the ground was heavily stained with blood. It was then that Saber realized that it was her Master's blood. _'No!' _

Sakura gasped and held both her hands to her mouth to cover her scream. Shirou looked horrible. A large diagonal cut appeared over his chest and it looked like it could have already cleaved him in half already. He was already swaying gently and looked like he was dying already. _'No... no no no no this can't be happening. Sempai!'_

Shirou coughed a large amount of blood before turning and grinning towards his Servant. "Heh." he manage to say. "Looks like you're still in the war." And with that, he fell forward just as Berserker retracted his blade. The last thing he saw were the worried faces of Sakura and Saber before darkness completely consumed his vision and mind.

_'Damn...'_

**A/N: This chapter was kinda rushed and shitty in my opinion but what the heck I might just go and re-edit this anyways so I'll leave it to this. Anyways... I finally got Fate/Stay Night for the PC and it totally rocks!**

**...Long intro though o.O;;**

**Anyways, I completed the Fate route and I pretty much know how the rest of the two ends so I'll be adding certain elements from those routes into the story as well. Dark Sakura will definitely make an appearance... maybe as the last antagonist or second to last. Two reasons for this.**

**One: She'll be freakishly powerful and that is a good test for Shirou. I mean come on! She totally killed Gilgamesh without really trying ;;**

**Second: This reason is the best in my opinion... Dark Sakura is totally hot! xD**

**And no... there won't be a Dark Saber but maybe a dark Berserker... Bah that's too far away to think about now...**

**Now for addressing Shirou's 'Over powered-ness' Well it's my story so too bad :P **

**But there is a 'balance' per sey for Shirou. He can't do any healing spells or just about any spells for that matter so he can't heal Saber. What he _can _do is provide Saber with a good amount of mana so that she can speed her recovery by herself. In my fic, Shirou has a large amount of mana and I think it's logical since he has a 'special' thing in him. Not spoiling for those that don't know**

**So ya, Shirou won't be able to heal or do any other spell but his Reinforcement and Tracing are top notched. If you noticed how I made him fight in this chapter, you can immediately tell what type of 'class' he would be if he ever becomes a Servant. If you don't then I suggest you either play the game, see the anime, or just shut up and wait for my story to finish. :P**

**To all you that don't know, I did minor editing on the First chapter. Nothing big, just a added chapter and a few grammar corrections. ;**

**Also, I accidently made Rin 'Merciful' in this fiction. That's because I wrote the first chapter with limited knowledge from the anime and before I got the game so yeah... my bad. But I won't change it. This is already AU so no sense making more canon-like.**

**Oh and by the way, the pairings has been decided. This will be a Shirou x Saber x Sakura threesome. Cause Sakura's so damn hot and she has a cute attitude :3**

**And Saber's just completely cute and awesome no matter what. xD**

**REVIEW OR I SIC BERSERKER ON YOUR ASS!!! x3**

**-Phoenix**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Gah my bad my bad. It was seriously hard to write this chapter for some unknown reason. I think that I just didn't feel into writing this one so ya... my bad.**

**Daemon Sadow: Ya I cause Ilya's pretty cute. But she's not in the pairing you loli freaks... lol just kidding.**

**Tsuki no Eizo: Um thanks and yeah I don't have a beta... Got to get one of them...**

**Zylix3: Thanks and yeah I agree but in this fic. If Shirou is so strong... how strong do you think Archer would be if he had the memory hmm? Exactly.**

**SpiritBlade: Rider had her eyes on Shirou in Fate/ Hollow Axteria or w.e that title is. She doesn't show interest in him in Fate/Stay Night. Maybe some thankfulness but that's it. No Rider in the pairings. My decision is final.**

_I looked on in horror as the city that I loved so much suddenly burned up in a roaring blaze. All around me, people were screaming for help and aid as buildings after buildings gave way to the searing heat. There was absolute pandamonium as not only were the flames killing so many people, but strange blasts echoed everywhere, as if two powerful opponents were clashing against one another._

_I felt a tug and looked up to see a faceless woman pulling me towards her. Behind her, a faceless man was shouting some words to her from a car. The woman frantically placed a jacket on me and holsted me up. For some reason, I felt immense warmth and allowed her to carry me all the way to the car._

_I opened my eyes again to see myself safely in the backseat of the car. In front, the faceless man was steering the car through many different alleys in an attempt to leave the burning city. The woman next to him was simply looking out with her faceless eyes. I managed to look out and I saw my reflection on the mirror. Staring back was a boy with orange hair and black bruises on his young face. I looked away, not wanting to see it again._

_Suddenly, the car was was forced to stop as a large group of people were pushing on the car, trying to get in as well. The man was yelling at them to move but they were adamant and the pushing increased in force. Then, I felt myself cringe in absolute horror and fear as a person took a gun and shot both the faceless man and woman. The windows broke and soon, hands were groping for the lock._

_I screamed and kicked some hands away only to have someone yank me by the leg. I was literally thrown from the car and landed on the ground hard. Tears of pain escaped my eyes and I stifled the urge to cry as I stood up. Then, a large explosion blew me away from the group and I landed hard on the ground again. This time, I became used to the pain and it didn't hurt as much. _

_I picked myself up and looked at where I was. Everywhere around me, there were dead bodies and burning bodies. Buildings were burning, trees were roaring with flame, and in the midst of it all, two knight-like people faced off one another._

_I couldn't really tell just what they were but from the way they were dressed, one was a guy and the other a girl. The girl is constantly charging forward only to be forced to block a barrage of weapons. I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yes it was true. Weapons were floating and being shot towards the girl but she seems to be blocking them all with her sword._

_The girl suddenly stopped charging and instead, simply held her sword up to her. My eyes adjusted to the flame and despite its constant drying, I was able to see a beautifully engraved sword glowing in a golden light. The sword seemed to glow even brighter by the second until the girl said some words. My ears strained to hear it and I was just able to hear the words. "-CALIBUR!!"_

_The following explosion was immense and I had to shield my face to keep flaming debris away. Suddenly, a stray golden light scattered away by the explosion fell and pierced me cleanly on the stomach. I gasped in pain before being hurled away by a even larger explosion. I crashed to a post and felt my conciousness close down with the blood pooling at my body. The last thing I saw was a man in golden armor leaping into an enormous gate and the girl with blue clothes suddenly running away._

_---_

Saber slowly opened her eyes and turned her gaze to her Master. He has been sleeping since last night after recieving that enormous blow from Berserker. Strangely enough, his wounds are healing at very fast pace and before, where there were slash marks as deep as pinky, now most are completely healed save for a few marks.

Suddenly, the images of her nightmare assaulted her vision and Saber closed her eyes again. It didn't take much to figure that the nightmare is actually Shirou's memory of that night where she fault against the enemy's Archer servant.

_'That golden tendril that pierced him... I'm quite sure that it was **I **who did it to him.' _Saber remembered swinging her sword fiercely and sending a large blast of golden energy towards the Servant only to have him dodge it with ease. The golden had arched out of the battle and she didn't pay it any mind at that time but now with Shirou's memory fresh in her mind, she became quite clear just _where _it landed.

Saber placed a cool hand on Shirou's forehead and muttered a silent apology. "Master... Please forgive me for harming you in the last war. My attention was completely taken by that servant then and I didn't know anyone was close enough to be harmed." Her hand gently brushed his hair before returning to her lap.

It was at that moment that Shirou woke up. He cracked open his eyes and blinked away the blurry images of the cieling. _'What in the world happened?' _Shirou groaned and tried to get up. Almost immediately, he was pushed back onto the bed and his vision was filled with the slightly concerned expression of his Servant.

_'That's right. I summoned a Servant and the Holy Grail War started. Then I helped fight off that Tosaka girl and saved Sakura...'_

Suddenly, images of the Einzbern girl and her collosus Servant suddenly came to mind. The last thing Shirou remembered was him falling and Saber's serious wound. And Sakura...

Shirou's eyes snapped open in full alertness. "Sakura!" He tried to get up again but his Servant held him by the shoulders and kept him from getting up. "Let me go! What happened to Sakura?"

"Master as your Servant, I advise you to lay down and allow your wounds to heal." Saber kept her hands firm on his shoulders, preventing him from moving up any more than his head. "To address your question, Sakura is fine. She had been attending her school and Rider had been guarding the complex."

Hearing this, Shirou stilled before relaxing. "I see..." He nodded and gave his Servant a small smile. "Thanks Saber." Her hands stilled for a moment and it was there that Shirou realized it was the first time he called her 'Saber'. _'Heh, first time for everything.'_

Saber's expression suddenly hardened and she met Shirou's gaze with narrowed eyes. "Master," he waved it away. "Call me Shirou. Master is too subjective."

"Shirou," she continued. "As your Servant, I must advise you not to ever do something as irrational as taking a blow from Berserker again." She ignored his surprised expression. "I am a Servant and therefore, my life is of little concern but you are human. You will only have one life and to waste it through something as unintelligible as saving me is to say that you are simply suicidal."

Shirou remained silent as he stared up at the cieling. Although Saber's words held much merit to it, the image of her leaning on her sword so heavily with her waist nearly cleaved was now burned deeply into his mind. It isn't something that he will forget and if his life was something lost for it, then he wouldn't complain.

"Heh, I never once thought of my life as something more than a simple existance." Saber snapped her head to his direction, her face set in one of curiosity. "Perhaps I had it when I was younger but ever since Tou-sama saved me, I had never thought myself as more than a tool directed by another force." Shirou gave a sad smile and closed his eyes. The familiar empty feeling in his chest is still there, even after ten years of love from his friends and family.

Saber bowed her head guiltily and replied in a apologetic tone. "Shirou, please forgive me." He opened his eyes again and turned his head to see her. "I had fallen asleep while tending to your wounds to conserve my remaining mana and I had unknowingly dreamed."

"Huh? Isn't dreaming normal?"

"Not for a Servant. We Servants sleep in a state of alertness. Dreams and other images that required mana and energy are taken away as it would feed on our reserves." Her eyes saddened as she gave Shirou a apologetic expression. "However, I recieved this dream from our link. It was a memory from you." Her gaze glazed over for a moment before she bowed her head again. "It was the one where there was an enormous fire and where you were striked by that golden tendril of energy."

Shirou stiffened. His mind was going through numerous possibilities. Did she see everything? Even he couldn't remember everything from those years before but the flame had been something that scarred his mind deeply. Had their link been so deep that memories from his life managed to travel to her subconcious? Or was it simply that _that _particular memory was simply so deeply ingraved into him that it was the first thing to reach her?

"... I see." Shirou sighed and lifted an arm to cover his eyes. The light was starting to sting them. "Well it's no use getting worked up over that. What's done is done and we can't change it so might as keep moving."

"But it was wrong for me to-"

"Saber." Shirou lifted his arm to unveil his eyes and Saber felt her breath stop for a moment. His eyes weren't their normal brown. Instead, they glowed white for that moment before settling in. Shirou continued, unknown to her sudden surprise. "It doesn't matter. Something like this was bound to happen from our bound so there is no need to get so worked up. Besides, now you won't have to get angry if _I _happen to stumble across some of your memories."

That shut her up. Saber stilled for a moment before nodding. Shirou grinned at his accomplishment before trying to get himself up. "Now that I'm calm, can you help me get up?" Saber immediately gave him a hand and Shirou took it without pause. She helped hoist him up to his feet and offered her shoulder to lean on. Shirou merely shook his head before slowly walking out of the room.

"Ah Sempai! Are you okay?" Shirou blinked and with start, noticed Sakura had somehow appeared right in front of him with her pink apron and school uniform. She tilted her head in question before both of them tensed at the sound of a very familiar woman's roar. Shirou felt sweat appear on his skin and began wishing he had heeded Saber's advice and stayed in bed.

**"SHHHHHIIIIIIRRROOOOOUUUUUUU!!!!"**

_'Crap...'_

A whirling mass of auburn, green, and yellow flew right into Shirou and before he knew it, he was sent hurtling down the hall. He crashed heavily to the wall and immediately curled up in pain. He grabbed his head with both hands and clenched his teeth shut.

_'Dammit that hurt!'_

Unknown to his pain, Taiga growled fiercely at her charge. "WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED TO YOU!? NEVER HAVE I THOUGHT YOU WERE SOMEONE TO PICK A FIGHT! AND TO MAKE IT WORST YOU NEARLY GOT KILLED! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?"

"A-ano, Taiga-sensei? Sempai didn't pick a fight with the person." Taiga spun around and gave Sakura her patented 'Tiger Glare'. Sakura gave a small 'Eep!' and backed away unconciously.

Satisfied with her reaction, Taiga was just about to give Shirou more of her mind when a cold feminine voice stopped her in her tracks. "Taiga-san. Shirou is very injured at the moment so your treatment is discouraged. I advise you to stop your beating on Shirou until he is at least fully healed."

Taiga whirled around and was greeted with an unfamiliar face. A young girl with European features, fair, refined features, emerald eyes that flash with emotion, and fine golden blonde hair. Taiga immediately felt a twinge of dislike in her. This girl is _beautiful. _What concerned her is that she seems to address Shirou with a sense of familiarity. Her 'parental' mindset already began grinding and she began putting the equation together.

"SHIIIIIROOOOUUUUUUU!!!"

Said teen was currently nursing his head when suddenly, a humanoid tiger suddenly pounced on him and began shaking him with enough force to knock him out.

"HOW DARE YOU GET A GIRLFRIEND AND NOT TELL ME? YOU EVEN WENT SO FAR AS TO INVITE HER TO YOUR HOME!?"

A whoosh of wind flowed through Taiga and she suddenly found herself holding on to thin air. She blinked and looked up to see that same blonde girl holding onto Shirou protectively and with a dangerous glint in her eyes. Taiga felt irritation rise. She dare mess with HER discipline? Oh there's going to be hell to pay!

Saber kept her grip firm on Shirou. After seeing what she saw, she can safely assume that this woman is some type of abuser. It's a wonder Shirou and his friend managed to turn out so well with someone like her as their guardian. "Thanks Saber..." She merely nodded to Shirou, who gave her a small, but grateful smile. "You are already injured. To have my Master get injured even more is something I can't forgive."

Apparently, Taiga's ears are as perceptive as a tiger's. "Master? Servant? Shirou! Are you lording over this girl?" She began to roll up her sleeves, all the while maintaining the tiger-like face. She didn't get three feet through when Saber gave her a rather dangerous look.

"Taiga-san was it? I would like to advice you to stay away from Shirou. At the moment, he is very injured and your form of discipline is highly frowned upon. Please walk away or I will be forced to take action."

Taiga was seriously pissed off. Who does this girl think she is? Doesn't she know that SHE is Shirou's guardian? Why in the world is she even here? She certainly doesn't look Japanese so that means she is a foreigner. Yet she mentions Shirou as her master. Does that mean that she is a maid or some other type of servant for him. Could be that she is a se-

Taiga stopped cold and immediately looked over this foreigner's body. She looked to be younger than Shirou by perhaps one or two years. Her body, however, is already showing the signs of great feminine beauty. Curves that can only be seen in teasing glances because of the dress and smooth looking long legs. A face that looked delicate and beautiful even though it was pulled into an expressionless glare. Finally, a chest that is already showing signs of feminine growth.

It made Taiga jealous. She knew that she herself wasn't as beautiful and that suitors only visit her mainly because of her grandfather's obscured threats. But still, to see something she is not so glaringly in her face had sparked immense jealousy in her and she immediately whipped out a shinai from thin air.

"Alright then, if you're going to stay here, you'll have to beat me!"

Shirou blanched and tried to protest but a sudden eruption of pain stopped him. _'Dammit!' _He gritted his teeth in fustration and anger. Just what in the world is Fugi-nee doing? This house doesn't even belong to her in the first place!

Before he could protest, Saber had simply nodded and the smirking form of Fugi-nee began leading her straight towards the dojo. All the while, Shirou could only follow in protest.

_'I have a feeling this isn't going to turn out so good.'_

_---_

"Alright, the rules are simple: Beat three times and I acknowledge that you can stay in this house but if I beat you three times, then you pack up and go back to where ever you came from. Deal?"

Saber nodded. It didn't seem that difficult. This person doesn't look like she had killed at all so her attacks wouldn't be aimed for vital parts. Saber would not give back that same luxury.

Taiga grinned fiercely. "Well if that's all good and done, Lets start!" And she charged forward, not even bothering to allow Saber to get her own kendo stick. Shirou groaned from his place on the wall and covered his face with his hand. _'Yeah, I think Fugi-nee is definitely pissed...'_

Taiga smirked as she got closer. This will be it! This will be the time she can finally show this 'servant' just who can boss Shirou around! With a war cry, she swung down her shinai in a fast arc, fully expecting to hit flesh.

**Woosh...**

What she got in return was herself losing her kendo stick and almost crashing into the ground face first. She blinked and stared at her open palms. _'Eh...? Wasn't there supposed to be something here?'_

"Forgive me Taiga-san but I didn't have time to get a shinai. I hope you don't mind if I use your own." Taiga whirled around and stared with disbelief at the sight before her. Saber was standing calmly in a regular kendo stance with _her shinai! _

She snorted. _'Must've been luck.' _

"Alright you can use that one but the fight hasn't stopped yet!" Taiga suddenly whipped up another shinai and charged again. Saber remained motionless and kept her form as the rampaging tiger rushed closer and closer. Then, at the last possible second, she tilted her stick a little to the right and held firm. It stabbed Taiga right in the hands and effectively forced her to drop the stick.

"That is the first victory."

Taiga growled and quickly took her shinai before charging again. She feinted left and dove forward with an upward strike. Again, Saber did nothing until the last second. With her arm raised, she swung down in a perfect arc and knocked Taiga on the head. She stumbled and crashed to the floor with her shinai skidding out of her hands.

"Second victory."

Now Taiga was pissed, she lunged forward and produced another kendo stick before doing rapid jabbs. Saber merely shifted her body left and right to dodge the jabs and then, in a move almost impossible to see, she knocked the stick and forced Taiga towards the wall with her shinai to her throat. Taiga fell silent as she simply stared in disbelief and slight horror.

"That is the third victory. I believe I have won and proven myself able enough to protect Shirou."

Taiga kept staring up at Saber in silence. Then, before anyone could do a thing to prevent it, she scrunched up her face and began wailing. "WAAHHHH SHIROU! YOU'RE SERVANT IS SO MEAN!"

He sweatdropped. "Ano... Fugi-nee, weren't you the one picking the fight?"

Taiga spun around and gave Shirou a comical sad face. "But I thought she was your slave or something! Something like that is going to pollute your innocent mind!"

If Shirou had any level of respect for Taiga at that time, it immediately plummeted. "... I'm going back to rest."

"Ah wait!"

"If you are going to rest from your injuries, then I shall accompany you as well."

"What!? Now hold up!"

"Sure, it's no problem for me. But maybe I should greet Sakura first?"

"Hey listen you!"

"Of course. Shall I accompany you there as well or simply wait in your room."

"Woah! That totally sounds wrong!"

"Nah it's your choice. You can follow if you want."

"Shirou!"

"Very well then. I shall accompany you to greet Sakura-san."

As Shirou and Saber walked away, Taiga was left behind and adopted a very tiger-ish growl. "DOESN'T ANYONE LISTEN TO THEIR ELDERS ANYMORE!?"

---

Sakura looked up from her cooking to see Shirou slowly walking in with Saber behind him. She immediately greeted him with a happy smile. "Ohayou gozaimasu Sempai! Are you okay?"

Shirou nodded and gave Sakura a small smile. "Thanks Sakura."

She gave tilted her head in a questioning manner. "When I almost got cleaved in two, it must have been you two and Rider who had dragged me back and dressed my wounds. For that, I thank you."

Sakura blushed and fidgeted in embarrassment. "A-ano... S-Saber-san did the most work. I just provided the water and bandages for her." She then looked away and casted her eyes downward in sadness. "Gomen Sempai. Fugimura-sensei was coming so I couldn't stay with you. I had to prepare breakfast or else she would be starving and you looked perfectly fine in Saber's care so I--"

"It's okay." Sakura snapped her eyes upward again and to her immense surprise, Shirou was in front of her and already had a hand on her head, gently stroking her hair downwards. He smiled at her and nodded. "It doesn't matter how little you did. I'm still grateful that you did something for my sake."

Sakura blushed but managed to return a bright smile and nodded to him with vigor. Shirou chuckled before remembering something. "Oh, by the way, where's Rider?"

From the shadows, the dark blinded woman stepped out and acknowledged Shirou with a nod. She walked over behind Sakura, where she can defend her if need be. Saber narrowed her eyes and mentally readied her sword but an outstretched arm from Shirou stopped her.

"Rider, I must thank you for protecting Sakura against Archer and his Master. I hope it wasn't too much trouble when you had to protect me as well."

Rider shook her head gently. "It was no problem." Her voice was low, as if the thanks had slid past her. "I merely did as my Master ordered. No thanks are necessary."

Shirou scratched his head a bit in embarrassment but that small action caused him to wince. Saber noticed immediately and held him with her arms. "Shirou, you are still quite injured. As your Servant, I advise you to quickly head back to your room where you can rest. At the moment, there are no threats so you need not stay alert."

Shirou nodded and allowed Saber to guide him through the hall. The young blonde turned her head once to give Sakura a thankful look before turning her attention back to moving her Master. Sakura merely gave a smile towards her and nodded before turning her attention back to making breakfast. She had a feeling Fugimura-sensei would be eating extra today after the beating she took.

Rider merely stood still, leaning against the wall, while her thoughts settled on the red-headed teen being lead by his Servant. Although he too is a Master, he seems to treat Sakura with no difference. She could sense genuine kindness from the boy and he didn't seem to show any hostility at all. _'He can prove to be a useful ally.' _She allowed a small smile to peer through her stoic expression. _'He is a kind man. I can see why Sakura chose to stay with him.'_

**A/N: MY GOD THIS CHAPTER WAS HARD TO WRITE!!! Anyways... um thanks for the review and I'll try to update the next chapter as soon as possible but man! Writer's block, laziness, and sadness (Lost my Fate/Stay Night file and had to install it again!!) really pounded me when I was doing this.**

**Um... I'll see if I can put through some of the canon features in it as well but I've also decided to add in a few touches from Heaven's Feel just because the Shirou in that arc kicks ass. I've also decided on the final antagonist. It's not Dark Sakura but someone else... Let you think about it :D**

**Oh and yeah... I made Taiga seem like a bitch. Reason is cause I don't really like freeloaders and she's a freeloader. I'll probably follow the Fate route and have her out of the picture for the rest of the fiction. You hypothosize how.**

**REVIEW OR BERSERKER WILL COME FOR YOU**


	4. Chapter 4

**Bah... I had a crap load of work to do but I somehow managed to upload this a little faster than I had thought. Anyways... some people to address:**

**Chinaman8: Thanks and yeah I don't have a beta. God I want to get one (Tears). It's true that I hate Taiga so I'll be taking her out of the fiction by next chapter. You'll see how. I know about the past and present but sometimes it gets confusing and I mix them up so my bad. Now the main quesiton: Hostilities to Rin were only because one: Sakura hate's Rin and Tosaka family as a whole because they abandoned her to Mato clan. Second, Shirou thought Rin was attacking Sakura and didn't think it out so if Rin were to tell them her agenda, I'm sure they'd let her in and Sakura accepts her to some point anyways.**

**Alucard 180: Yep yep I like how sultry Rider can be but I think she isn't truly interested in Shirou. At least, not in Fate Stay Night. Also, I may love the characterizations of just about everyone in Fate Stay Night but that doesn't mean I love freeloaders. They can get run overed by a car and I'll be there laughing my ass off.**

**On with the Story!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Fate Stay Night. It belongs to Type Moon.**

**---**

"Shirou, are you sure you are healed enough to go back to school?" Shirou sighed, not for the first time, on how suspicious Saber was being. She had checked his wounds three times already and still she wasn't satisfied. "For the last time Saber. My body is perfectly healed. Now can you please allow me to go before I'm late for school?"

Shirou placed her hands on her hips and adopted a scolding form. "Shirou. As your Servant, I advise you to not go to something as mundane and possibly hazardous as your school until the war is over."

"Huh?"

She sighed. "The school is a perfect place for other Masters to hide. Furthermore, the school is a area with numerous souls and therefore, numerous degrees of mana. You would not be able to sense any of the Masters unless you yourself have very keen senses."

Shirou grunted. "Look I thank you for your concern but I'm pretty sure nothing's going to happen okay? Sakura has Rider going with her as protection and I can take out any type of magus there is so it shouldn't be that hard to get through."

"Sakura and Rider going to school with you is the exactly what I have been warning you about." Saber tilted her head up stubbornly to meet his gaze. "Have you forgotten that they too are in the war as well? What will happen should they decide to attack you while you let your guard down?"

Shirou sighed. "Look, Sakura is a good girl and I don't think she'll attack me. If anything, I don't think she even wants to be in this war." He then adopted a sheepish expression and scratched the back of his head. "And Rider... well she _does _have that look like she's going to kill someone but aren't Servants suppose to have certain traits similar to their Masters? I'm sure Rider won't cause unecessary harm to anyone."

Saber merely kept her stare straight and unwavering. Her green eyes searched through his own, trying to find even a hint of discomfort. When she found none, she sighed and lowered her head. "Fine. I shall concede with your wishes but promise me that should there be any trouble, you summon me right away with the command spell."

Shirou nodded. "Sempai! Are you ready?" He arced his head to see Sakura waving towards him from the sidewalk. Although Rider isn't there, Shirou had a very strong hunch that she was nearby in some form. He turned back to give Saber a grin and waved his hand as well before hoisting the briefcase onto his shoulders and walking over towards Sakura. He gave one last look to Saber before turning his attention back to Sakura.

She smiled up to him. "Are you ready Sempai?" The sun shone brightly on her and illuminated her violet eyes, giving her a look that is full of life. Shirou shook his head and grinned at her. "Yeah I'm ready. By the way, where's Rider?"

"She's here next to me. She said that she doesn't trust the school and wanted to accompany me." Seeing Shirou's dubious look, she quickly added. "She's currently invisible. She said that all Servants should have this ability."

Shirou suddenly looked bewildered and after a moment, troubled. Sakura frowned and tilted her head up to him. "Sempai? Is there something wrong?"

"Ah no nothing. Sorry about that Sakura." She smiled and shook her head. "It's no problem at all. Should we get going?"

Shirou nodded and soon, they were already starting their way to school. However, he kept casting a worried eye over back to his complex where a certain golden haired Servant rests.

_'If all Servants can become invisible, why doesn't Saber do it too?'_

---

"Sakura! Get over here right now!"

Shirou nearly groaned in annoyance at the sound of the voice. He closed his eyes and counted to ten. When he opened them, he was immediately met with the scowling face of one Mato Shinji. He moved forward and immediately placed himself in front of Sakura, who had frozen on spot.

"Is there a reason why you're harrassing Sakura so early in the morning?"

Shinji apparently just noticed that Shirou was right there and immediately jumped back in shock and fear. "E-Emiya! What are you doing here?"

"I come to this school too remember? Why are you so surprised Shinji?"

Shinji opened and closed his mout like a fish with no words coming out. Then, it seemed as if he placed two and two together as he suddenly rounded on Sakura's still form. "You were staying at Emiya's place weren't you!?" He made a move to grab her but Shirou stood in his way. Also, the very air around them tensed, as if a lurking person was just getting ready to attack. Shirou felt a twinge of satisfaction at the feel. It seems Rider was really protecting Sakura after all.

"I don't think you have the right to order her around at all Shinji. If it is true that she's staying at my place, then that means she is under my care and more importantly, _my _protection. I suggest you walk away like a good little boy and leave her alone."

Shinji's face colored immensely. People had started to stop and look. _'Damn that meddling Emiya!' _

He scowled heavily and turned around to leave. "Sakura. If you miss another archery meeting, I will personally petition the captain to have you kicked out of the team! Do I make myself clear?" He left without getting an answer.

Sakura sighed in relief before sending an apologetic glance towards Shirou, who was still facing the retreating form of her brother. However, before she could stutter out an apology, Shirou spoke up in a sharp tone.

"Don't let Shinji walk all over you Sakura. It will only give him more reason to attack you." She lowered her head. "I understand."

Suddenly, a hand was placed on top of her head and Sakura looked up again. Shirou was now facing her and had his hand on top of her head like a true older sibling would do. He smiled. "Don't worry about Shinji trying to force you out of the achery team. I'm good friends with the captain and I'm sure she likes you just as much as she hates Shinji. You'll stay in."

Sakura smiled at him. "Thank you Sempai." They were just about to continue on their way to the school building when another voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Wow, Matou-kun sure looked mad. Though Emiya-kun certainly did a fine job in helping Sakura." They turned around and Sakura stilled again. Her eyes widened in horror at the person before them.

There, standing as if nothing has happened, was the top honor student and Archer's Master, Tosaka Rin. Unaware of their discomfort, Rin casually brushed some of her hair and adopted a curious expression. "But why would Mato-kun be so forceful in making Sakura go back? I thought he hated you."

Sakura didn't answer. The air around her began to distort. It wasn't anything normal people could see as it involved the use of mana. However, it warned Rin immediately that Rider had decided to make her precense known. As if to reply, the air around Rin distorted as well, revealing the lines of her Archer servant.

Shirou couldn't believe his eyes. He clearly remembered Archer having his back take a fierce hit from Saber's sword. He couldn't possibly be healed after that blow so fast! He gritted his teeth in anger and fustration. _'If that is even possible, then his regeneration is deadly. To heal a wound like that would require immense mana and I'm sure Rin didn't heal him herself. This guy... what is he?'_

Rin sighed at the sight of their tense expressions and waved her hands in front of her as a sign of surrender. "I'm not here to start any trouble." She said in a exasperated tone. "I was just wondering why Mato-kun was so forceful with Sakura. I'm sure it's not sibling rivalry."

"And why should we believe you? Last I remembered, you tried to attack Sakura and me."

Shirou immediately knew he had dug himself a hole as he saw a vein tick on top of Rin's forehead. Despite himself, he felt cold sweat and backed away slowly. Those narrowed green eyes of hers literally screamed 'feminine fury'.

However, Rin didn't snap at him. Instead, she heaved a deep sigh and calmed down before explaining to him. "I wasn't trying to _kill _you or Sakura for that matter. I only wanted to propose a team-up against Illyasviel and her Berserker." She crossed her arms and glared at him. "_You _were the one who suddenly attacked me out of thin air. I was only trying to defend myself."

"Wait... how did you know I became a Master?"

Rin scoffed. "Oh come on. Are you telling me you can't sense mana or something? I knew you were a magus since the first time I saw you. Therefore, there was a good chance that you would be able to summon a Servant and even if you don't your area has a strong boundary field that can serve as a alert when there are other magus or Servants."

Shirou stilled and suddenly remembered that it was he who had assumed Rin decided to attack and ordered a attack of his own without thinking it through or watching for anymore interaction. He must have adopted a sheepish expression as Rin huffed and waved him away. "Well it's no problem now. Surprisingly, Archer has good regeneration and as long as he's not dead, I suppose I can accept your apology."

Shirou sputtered in indignation. _'Apology!?'_

"Ano... Tosaka-sempai. Your abrupt appearance into the complex forceful questions must have looked like a danger to Shirou-sempai so that was probably why he decided to attack you." Shirou heaved a sigh of relief as he saw Rin turn to regard Sakura with a surprised expression. _'Thank you Sakura.'_

Rin uncrossed her arms and adopted a thinking pose. "Huh... I guess now that I think about it, it did seem rather forceful didn't it?"

Shirou sweatdropped. _'A little would be an understatement...'_

Rin nodded, as if satisfied with her train of thought. "Very well. I apologize to you and Emiya-kun for being forceful in my questions and I accept Shirou's apology for attacking me without thinking it through."

_"WHAT!?"_

"Oi oi no need to be so loud Emiya-kun. I'm right here."

"That's not the point!" Shirou growled and had it not been for the even bigger distortion around Rin, he would have walked over and grabbed her by her school collar. "First of all, I don't remember giving an apology for my actions. Second of all, weren't you trying to get us to 'team-up' or something?"

Rin's expression turned serious and she nodded. "Of course. I'm sure you already encountered Berserker and know first hand just how powerful he really is." Both Sakura and Shirou tensed as memories of that grey giant and his club-axe cleaving anything in sight, including Shirou. He unconciously placed a hand on his stomach and Sakura gave him a worried glance.

Rin nodded at their reactions. "And I know why he is so powerful. His name is probably the most famous in Greek mythology." Shirou felt his eyes widened. The most famous hero in Greek mythology was-! "Heracles, the giant of Greece and son of Zeus."

Sakura gasped and placed her hand to cover her mouth. How could they beat someone like him? Heracles was voiced as the strongest of Greek heroes and the deeds he accomplished in his lifetime as a mortal were legendary! _'It's impossible to beat someone like him! Not even an army could have defeated him. How are we to do so with just two Servants? Even if Tosaka-sempai were to group up with us, the chances of winning would barely go up!'_

Shirou narrowed his eyes towards Rin. "Alright." He replied. "We now know the reason why this Berserker is seemingly invincible but why would you want to team up with us anyways? What's your reason?"

"My reason?" Rin arched an eyebrow and gave Shirou a pointed look. "Isn't it obvious? I want to stay in the war. If the highest chance of survival would mean to team up with other Masters then I won't complain." She held out a hand and gave them a smile. "So what will it be?"

Shirou hesitated. On the one hand, having Rin as an ally would mean that he wouldn't have to attack her early on. Should be a good ally and Archer's regeneration made him a good tank against other types of Servants. On the other hand, there is a good chance that Rin would probably betray them later on and attack them when they were at their weakest. _'Damn... this is a hard decision.'_

"A-ano... I don't have problem with Tosaka-sempai helping us out."

_'Huh?'_

Both Shirou and Rin turned their attention to Sakura, who blushed and lowered her voice a little. "I-I don't have a problem with Tosaka-sempai helping us b-but it's your choice Sempai!" She rushed through the last part a little but Shirou heard everything clearly. He scratched his head and began to think the possibilities over again. _'Well... Tosaka would definitely be a good help but...'_

Meanwhile, Sakura was beating herself over the head for even speaking up her agreement. _'Stupid!'_ She berated herself. _'Why are you allowing yourself to accept Tosaka-sempai's help?'_

**_'I can't help it.' _**A voice replied. **_'After all, she's my--'_**

Sakura quickly shook those thoughts away with force and anger. She shouldn't think about it. Not when it had happened in the past. She won't get bogged down by those memories. Sempai wouldn't accept her if that were to happen.

"Well... if Sakura has no problems with you joining, then I suppose that I don't have any problems either." Sakura snapped her head up and stared at Shirou with something akin to shock. She had half expected him to decline the offer and his accepting it caused her to bite her lip to stop a retort. She shouldn't make one. After all, she was the one who said she didn't have a problem in the first place.

Rin smiled happily at Shirou, showing her beautiful face and its radiant features. Undaunted, Shirou glared at Tosaka and spoke out in a cold voice, devoid of all emotions. "However, if you betray us before the death of Berserker, then your life shall be forfeit. Do I make myself clear?"

Rin nodded, still maintaining her smile, though it had lessen somewhat. "Don't worry. I have no intentions of betraying anyone unless I myself and betrayed upon." She suddenly tensed up and before either Shirou or Sakura had noticed, she was already running across the school yard and to the building.

"Eh-"

"Huh?"

"Sorry! I'll meet you two after school! Is that alright?" Rin shouted to them as she continued running. Shirou and Sakura only stood there, confused and a little wary of her until something happened that made them suddenly turn cold and still.

The school bell rang.

"Crap! No wonder Tosaka was running! We're late!" Shirou cursed and began running as well. Sakura, who had jumped the moment the bell rang, was already hot on his heels. "Damn that Tosaka." Shirou growled to himself. "This counts as betrayal."

---

"Alright so what are you reasons for wanting to team up with us?" Shirou crossed his arms and gave Rin a hard, searching look. He was still peeved with the fact that she ran right passed them without telling them the bell was going to ring, leaving both he and Sakura to sprint as if their lives depended on it. Sakura barely made it on time but he was late and had to suffer the wrath of Fugi-nee's already bruised ego.

Rin sighed and brushed a lock of her hair. "It's simple really. I just want to survive and when possible, win." She turned and gave a small smirk. "I have no interest whatsoever on the Holy Grail but I absolutely hate losing. Therefore, if winning would mean teaming up with other Masters, I have no problem with that provided that they are decent enough to work with."

"And that means us?" Rin nodded towards Sakura then, as if struck by inspiration, suddenly clapped her hands together.

"I know!" She exclaimed. "To show my good faith, I'll help you two devolve the Boundary Field being placed on this area!"

**_'Boundary Field?'_**

Rin's enthusiasm suddenly waned as she caught the looks of confusion coming from both Sakura and Shirou. "...You _do _know what a Boundary Field is... right?"

"..."

Rin sighed and covered her face with her hand in exasperation. _'And **they **are supposed to be my allies? Maybe it was a mistake after all to try and team up with them.'_

"Alright listen up. A Boundary Field is an area that is surrounded my mana shaped into a barrier. It's main purpose is to ward off threats or warn the inhabitants of incoming danger. For example, Emiya-kun's complex has a boundary field that acts as a sentinel and warns the master of that home, if danger is coming."

Shirou nodded. That much made sense since he had sensed danger many times in that home and all had come true. Rin merely tilted her head slightly in confusion but continued to listen.

"However, _this _Boundary Field does not serve either of those two purposes. From the way the mana feels, this Boundary Field is meant to absorb all the souls that are inside the area."

There was a stunned silence. Both Sakura and Shirou stared at Rin in disbelief. Then, Shirou finally spoke out. "So that means that a Master is at work here."

"That's right."

"Wait." Rin and Shirou gave Sakura a questioning look. "How can you be sure that it is a Master at work? Aren't some Maguses cruel and use human energy as a source of their power."

"That's good insight." On the inside, Rin was impressed. Although Sakura was an unorthodox Magus, she still has a bit of knowledge when it comes to sacrificial magic. "However, since the Holy Grail War has started and this Boundary Field is meant to steal souls, the person behind it is most likely a Master and is using the souls to empower his or her Servant."

"Ah, yes I see now." Sakura hung her head in embarassment. _'Stupid!' _She scolded herself. _'Of course it would be a Master. Who else but a Master would want to steal souls during the Holy Grail War?'_

"So there are Boundary Points placed all around the school and to show you're good faith, you'll be willing to help us devolve them and allow us to have more time before they activate right?" Shirou pondered over the possibility. While he still didn't fully trust Rin, he had to admit that his magic senses weren't that great beyond tracking an individual's mana flux and he highly doubted Sakura could do it as she didn't know that much about magic to begin with. Finally, with a sigh and a sag of his shoulders, he agreed with her. "Alright, we'll team up for now."

"Good then let's get started." Rin walked over towards Shirou until they were practically touching and placed her hands firmly on his shoulders. Shirou's face immediately flared up in a blush but was speechless at what she was doing.

Sakura simply stared in shock. _'Just what is Tosaka-sempai doing? Is she trying to kiss him right here?'_

"Uh... T-Tosaka, what are you doing?" Rin looked at Shirou weirdly and pointed to the branch on top of them. There, a shining red mark was desplayed and it would occasionally let a few ebbings of mana flow out. "There is a Boundary Point right here. I'll need you to help lift me up so I can dissipate the mana charging into it."

"Oh..." Shirou's embarrassment died a little and he managed to stay his stuttering. "Alright, let's get this over with." He lowered his hands to her waist and with a grunt of exhertion, lifted her up high enough to reach the branch.

"Now I don't want you to do any peeking under there or you'll find yourself in a boatload of trouble, pact or no pact." Rin smiled to herself when she heard his sputters of indignation before turning her attention to the marking on the branch. It was already pulsing with mana and the symbols were already glowing. Whoever it was that placed the points around the school must have waited until it was a school day to take the maximum amount of mana available. Rin grinned. Whoever this person was, he'll be in for a rude surprise when he realizes just _when _the Boundary Field will actually be activated.

With a quick chant, she poured her own mana into the symbol and its red markings immediately turned blue, signifying that it's charge had been dissapated.

"Alright. With this one down, there should only be six more points around the school. We'll just have to go aorund and look for them."

"Eh? There's more?"

"Oh please, you didn't think there would only be one did you?" Rin scoffed at him. "If so, then it would require a lot of mana and the most powerful of symoblic runes. I'm sure a Master wouldn't want to waste all that just to feed a Servant. Now, can you please let me down and let us get back to work?"

"Ah right." Shirou hastily allowed Rin to get off of him and immediately snapped his arms to his sides. He looked away from Rin as his face heated up again.

"Ano... Sempai are you alright?" Dammit. Sakura noticed. She tiilted her head to his direction and casted him a worried glance.

"Don't worry about him Sakura. I'm sure he just wasn't used to feeling a woman's skin am I right?" Damn that Tosaka. Shirou growled in annoyance but it only served to encourage her. Rin held a hand to her mouth and was unsucessfully trying to smother her giggles. "Let's just get this over with." He snapped and began stomping off into the school's direction. He did _not _wanted to be targeted by Rin right at that moment and he wasn't exactly happy that Sakura found out as well.

"Damn that Tosaka and her stupid tricks."

---

"Phew." Shirou sighed in exhaustion as he leaned against the gates to his home. Behind him, Sakura placed a hand to his shoulder in worry. "Sempai, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just never expected some of those runes to be on walls and roof tops." Shirou grunted and cracked his back with a light snap. He then nodded towards her and made to open the door.

That is, until a slight amount of killer intent made him stop. It was minute, not even those of weak Magus should project such low killing intent unless on purpose. Regardless, Shirou tensed and placed his hand out to stop Sakura. With a tense hand, he slowly opened the gates.

To be faced with the snarling face of Fugimura Taiga.

"SHIROU! WHAT IN THE WORLD HAVE YOU BEEN DOING!?" He cringed. If there was one thing he absolutely feared, it was the sound of Fugi-nee when she was pissed off. That's the voice that promised extreme pain unless given the best of reasons and given that she was his homeroom teacher, he wasn't exactly happy to hear it.

Behind him, Sakura jumped the moment Taiga's face came into view and visibly shrank back at the sound of her voice. It seriously reminded her of a tiger's roar. Both in loudness and in ferocity. _'I-I can see how everyone calls her "Old Tiger"...' _Sakura clutched her head while her eyes swirled around in dizziness. There was something to that voice that made her want to fall to the ground and act dead.

Unbeknownst to their plight, Taiga continued to rage on. "No schedule, no notes, no phone calls, and more importantly, NO DINNER! I want to know right here and right now what you two were doing in the middle of the n-" Taiga suddenly stopped and stared at the two of them again. This time, her eyes narrowed even further and before either could do anything, she grabbed Shirou by the collar and hauled him forward to meet her face. "Don't tell me you two were finding a place alone to yourselves. It's bad enough that you have that 'Saber' girl in our house but now you're trying to build on a Harem or something?"

Shirou sweatdropped. What the hell was she talking about? First of all, it was _his _house, not hers. Second of all, why would he even be considerring a Harem? Has that woman gone nuts?

Sakura blushed fiercely at the though but frowned slightly at the mention of a Harem. A Harem meant that Sempai would be having more than one girl. Sakura didn't like that. If she was able to be with Sempai, she wanted to be the _only _girl he has his eyes on. No one else.

"Uh Fugi-nee? To be honest, Sakura and I weren't doing anything and before I tell you anything, can you let go of me first?" A vein ticked on top of Taiga's forehead and before Shirou knew what was happening, he was being shaken like a rag doll.

"FORGET LETTING YOU GO! YOU'D BETTER GIVE A GOOD EXPLAINATION MISTER OR IT'LL BE CLEANING DUTY FOR THE REST OF THE SCHOOL YEAR!"

Sakura was about to protest on the treatment when a new voice stopped her words from the tip of her mouth.

"Taiga-san. I would like to ask you to let go of my Master before you seriously injure him. Have you forgotten that Shirou was already injured this morning? He does not need another injury to add to it."

Taiga turned her attention away from the limp Shirou and casted her glare towards the side, only for it to waver and her stance to tense the moment they caught the same green eyes that stared at her without emotion during their little 'spar'. She mumbled a quiet 'fine' and unceremoniously dropped Shirou to the ground.

"Ow!"

Saber was helping him up from the ground in a second. She casted a narrowed glare towards Taiga before looking away. "Shirou, you are weakened right now. Perhaps it would be wise to rest."

"Y-yeah I think you're right." Shirou managed to grit out. However, just as they were preparing to leave for the house, another new voice stopped them in their tracks.

"Ah! You're all outside! Am I bothering you?" Shirou stiffened in horror. That voice... it's her!

Sakura stilled as well. The familiarity of that voice was hard to miss. That tone, that certain curve tongue, that unmistakeable pitch. Slowly, they all turned and all were immediately greeted with the smiling face of one Tosaka Rin. She was dressed in a red sweat shirt and a black miniskirt as well as black stockings. On the ground beside her laid an enormous duffle bag.

_'Wait, what's the duffle bag for?'_

Rin smiled cheerfully and grinned at them as she waved her hand. "Well since we're allied up right now, I'll be staying over here. Is that alright Emiya-kun?"

There was a shocked silence for those that heard. Then, Shirou winced as Saber's grip on his shoulder tightened immensely and he was met with her steely gaze. However, what throbbed him the most was the scream that sounded so much like a roar.

"I KNEW IT! SHIIIIRROOUUUU!! YOU WON'T BE MAKING A HAREM ON MY WATCH!"

Rin sweatdropped at the scene of Taiga roaring like an angry beast. She dropped her hand unsteadily to her side and quietly murmured to herself. "D-did I drop in at a bad time?"

_'Damn you Tosaka...!'_

**A/N: Well this is it for this chapter. I know that I was kinda late so to compensate, I made this chapter longer. Still un-betaed and I'm currently looking for one but I dunno if anyone is gonna want to so I'm not holding my breath.**

**Some things to summarize: **

**Archer may seem weak but that is only because of the fact that he lost his memories. I like the anime version of it so I'll keep to it. Also, to address his fast regeneration, I wasn't able to finish Unlimited Blade Works route in the game so I couldn't find all the stuff about Archer so I read through the trusty Wikipedia. It mentioned that Archer might still have Avalon inside of him and I liked the idea and decided to incorporate it into the story.**

**-**

**In this chapter, I was very VERY tempted to add Rin to the pairings only because from the beginning all the way to the end of the school part, it was very fun to write her character. But, I'm sad to say that Rin won't be in the pairings. From what I gathered, she was more of a mentor to Shirou than his lover in UBW so meh...**

**-**

**Yeah yeah... I know I'm putting more effort into Sakura's involvement with Shirou but rest assure! I promise that Saber is the main woman for Shirou. He shows his love for Sakura probably somewhere in the middle of the story or to the end.**

**-**

**I've decided on just who the "Dark Servants" will be. Not telling who they are but you'll find out when you get there.**

**Lastly... I love Fate Stay Night. The characters are well developed, even the villains. They have certain points to them that I can see reason to why they became evil. Not like certain anime villains that are born evil. In my words: "That's absolute bullshit." The only two people I truly hate in the entire Fate Stay Night game are:**

**Taiga because she's a freeloading, short-tempered..._ thing _that doesn't have a guy to put her in line.**

**Shinji because he's an arrogant prick and the way he treated Sakura in Heaven's Feel totally pissed me off.**

**But that's it. Kirei, Zoken, and Gilgamesh may be villains but I see the reason behind it. You guys would probably too if you've seen the story that is Fate Zero.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Tired... I finished writing this like at 2 am. My god you don't know how tired I am. Anyways, reason on why this was so late was because I was away for most of August, visiting some family people. It left me with nearly nothing to write except for my trusty notebook. So yeah, my bad everyone.**

**Daemon Shadow: No one has so far wanted to be my beta so I don't know if the grammar mistakes will ever go away.**

**Blade1986: Haha thanks P**

**Now on wit the story!!!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night. That belongs solely to Type Moon. **

Saber sat next to the sleeping form of her Master, deep in thought. Shirou was a mystery to her. Although she had seen certain parts of his memories through their link, not once was there any indication that showed the change he would go through. In fact, most were either the painful reminder of her failure in Fuyuki and the fire or his almost eternal joy at being adopted by Kiritsuga. Not one displayed the soul-breaking horror that one would expect. Although the fire was indeed traumatizing, it didn't seem to bother him as much as a certain part buried in his memories. Yet, try as she might, Saber could not reach that memory. It appeared Shirou did not want that particular memory to be read.

She sighed and with unconcious thought, brushed some of his hair with the back of her hand. "What are you hiding Shirou?" Her voice flowed out like gentle waves. "What was so bad that it killed your dreams?"

Suddenly, her vision was immediately assaulted with blurry visions.

_Men in turquoise aprons and latex gloves hurrying through a room._

_Urgent noises._

_A deadline beep._

_The scream of a boy._

Saber jerked her hand away and held her head tightly as she gasped in exhertion. The image... no the memory suddenly attacked her so suddenly and fiercely that she wasn't prepared for the blurry images. Nor was she prepared for that emotion, that one emotion of extreme horror and helplessness.

Saber turned her eyes towards Shirou again. Something happened to him but what? "Shirou..."

---

Sunlight poured through the room and hit Shirou squarely in the face. This halted the tranquil peace he was just enjoying moments before. With a sigh of annoyance, he opened his eyes and sat up on the futon, rubbing his head in annoyance. It was then that he knew something was off with his room.

_'Lets see... normal furniture, normal color, same desk, same closet, same Servant, same...'_

_'Hold on.'_ Shirou spun his head back to look at the person sitting japanese style right next to him. It was indeed his Servant, Saber, sitting next to him and she appeared to be sleeping. However, what caught his eyes was how the sun shone on her features, illuminating them in such a way that stole his breath away. There was no other word for it. She was _Beautiful..._

It was at that moment that Saber opened her eyes. Shirou jumped a little in surprise and she turned her head to look at him.

"Good morning Shirou."

"Ah... good morning Saber."

There was an awkward silence as Shirou was assaulted with that memory. She was so beautiful in that light that it made her seem so... radiant. Her features were already beautiful as is but with the sun's rays and playful shadows, they were further highlighted. _'Damn...'_

"Shirou, you appear uncomfortable. Are you ill?" Saber tilted her head in a questioning manner and Shirou could barely keep a rather annoying blush from appearing in his face. "Ah... n-no it's nothing. I'm fine."

_'Get a hold of yourself Shirou.'_ His mind screamed. _'You're acting like a total idiot!'_

Shirou sighed and stood up from his futon. Following his lead, Saber stood up as well. "Well, I suppose that I have to get ready for school so is it okay if you wait outside for a bit?"

Just as he was about to reach for the handle to his closet, a small hand held on to his shoulder with surprising force. _'Eh?'_

"Shirou, as your Servant, I must implore you not to go to that school until the war is over." Saber's green eyes sparked fiercely and her entire posture just screamed 'Obey or die.'

"Heh." Shirou grinned. "I was looking for an excuse to ditch school and I think I've just found one." Shirou casted his narrowed eyes towards Saber, who tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Thanks Saber." He dressed in a hurry and proceeded to the living room, followed by his blonde Servant.

---

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SCHOOL!?" The floor rumbled with Taiga's scream of fury as she casted her patented "Tiger Glare" from Shirou to Saber. Behind her, Sakura looked worried and was biting her lip as if something wasn't to her liking.

"The answer is simple Fugi-nee." Shirou adopted a calm expression while on the inside, he was twitching in irritation. "I don't exactly feel that great and since you shook me like a rag doll yesterday, I feel like I woke up with sledgehammers pounding my head."

Taiga adopted a sheepish expression. "Eheheh... well maybe I was too hard on that wasn't I?" She nodded to herself as if she was suddenly proud of her decision. "Yosh! Shirou you stay and get better. Sakura-chan, Rin-chan and I will go ahead then."

"Actually Fugimura-sensei, I won't be going to school either."

'Eh?' Both Shirou and Taiga turned around to see Rin standing there with a nonchalant expression. "I'm sure that Emiya-kun here will need someone to take care of him and I volunteer to help." She then gave Shirou meaningful look. "He had already agreed right Emiya-kun?"

'...Fuck...' From the way he saw it, Shirou could tell that Rin would literally make his life a living hell if he did not cooperate and so, he gave a rather meek nod towards Taiga. The auburn haired woman huffed indignantly before turning around and marching towards the door. "FINE! Sakura-chan will just have to be the model student until Shirou 'feels better' then!"

"Ano... Fugimura-sensei? I-I must stay and help Shirou-sempai and Tosaka-sempai too." Taiga twitched and spun around with a roar. Sakura 'Eeped' in fear and hid herself in the hallway. Shirou sweat-dropped before pushing Taiga out towards the door. "Er, you'd better get going Fugi-nee. You wouldn't want to keep the classmates waiting again will you?"

"NOW WAIT JUST ONE MIN-" Before Taiga could finish her sentence, Shirou slammed the door in her face. "Geez..." He muttered. "You'd think she had busted an artery already from all that screaming."

Rin giggled and Sakura gave a shy smile. "Maa, we'd better hurry and do all the training we can get if we want to prepare ourselves against Illyasviel and her Berserker."

Both Rin and Sakura grew serious and nodded. "Yosh. Tosaka, you go and help teach Sakura in the most needed of magic and spells that would help her. I'll be training swordsmanship with Saber in the dojo."

Sakura looked like she was about to say something but thought better and gave a rather subdued nod. Rin grinned and gave Shirou a mock salute. "Don't worry about Sakura Shirou. She'll be a strong sorceress before you'll know it!"

Sakura's face heated up in embarrassment and Shirou gave her a warm smile. "Ah, I know for sure." He reached out and held her shoulder gently. "Do your best Sakura."

"H-hai! I'll work hard to meet your expectations!" Sakura squeaked up. Her face reddened even more at seeing Shirou's surprised expression and Rin's rather amused one as well. She immediately clammed up before quickly rushing up the stairs.

"..." Both Shirou and Rin stared at her retreating form with surprise and amusement. Finally, Shirou ended the silence with a cough. "Right then, Tosaka, I'm counting on you okay?" Rin nodded with a grin and went up the stairs as well.

_'...I have a feeling this house won't survive whatever that damn woman will cook up.'_ Comically large tears flowed from his eyes as he imagined just how much money it would cost to fix the destruction of his beloved complex. _'...Maybe having them train together wasn't such a great idea.'_

Shirou sighed. There was nothing he could do about it now. He stretched a little before walking over towards the direction of the dojo.

---

As soon as Shirou stepped foot in to the dojo, the first thing he noticed was how beautifully the sun's rays shone on his Servant. Her golden hair, her fair complexion, her slim body. Everything was made ever so radiant by the golden lights of the sun. Shirou hesitated. Saber looked so relaxed, so at home in a training area like the dojo that he felt like a total intruder should he get closer to her. Still, Saber will most likely view his retreat as an offense to her pride as a knight.

Shirou sighed. _'I hate having to deal with chivalry and knightly honor.'_ He grumbled to himself. It didn't matter and Shirou steeled his resolve before walking over towards his young Servant.

Saber immediately opened her eyes and greeted her Master with a semi-warm gaze. Shirou stopped at the sight and felt his breath catch in his throat.

Those eyes. Those deep emerald orbs that could stare down the hardest of enemies were now staring up at him with warmth and Shirou was once again speechless. Such beauty, such grace, such a beautiful color. As Shirou stared at those deep eyes, he suddenly remembered the words he himself had thought of when he first met Saber and he agreed with it even more so now that he was captured by their gaze once again.

_"...A sword, honed to a deadly grace."_

Saber frowned and tilted her head in a questioning manner. "Shirou, are you alright?" Her voice was tinged slightly with concern. "You seemed to have stopped."

Shirou blinked before the realization of what he had been doing came crashing into his mind and his entire face heated up brilliantly. He immediately turned his head away from embarrasssment. "Ah... It's nothing."

"Are you sure?" Saber's frown was still there as she stood up. She walked over towards Shirou and placed a hand on his forehead. "You feel slightly warm. Perhaps it would be wise to postpone the training?"

"I'm fine, really." Shirou grunted in irritation. He wasn't mad at Saber. He was mad at himself for looking so pathetic in front of her. _'Stupid, getting so flustered from just looking at her.'_ Shirou sighed and slumped his shoulders. It was no use. Being only two days with his Servant and Shirou was already entranced with her beauty. _'Stupid male functions...'_

"I'm fine Saber so lets go and train." Saber gave him one last worried glance before her face returned to its normal stoic expression. She nodded and led the young magus outside. Once out in the open field, Saber went into lecture mode.

"As a Master and a magus, your duty in the war is to _assist_ me, _not _to be taking the blows as well." Shirou grunted. From the way Saber emphasized the that sentence, she was still partially angry that he went and saved her life and kept her in the war.

Ignoring his grunt, Saber checked to make sure there were only seven rocks before she went ahead and grabbed a rock from a small basket. "I have already seen your prowess in archery but I still want to make sure that you can hit everything accurately so I have decided to toss stones quickly in random directions. See if you can hit them all."

_'This is child's play.' _Shirou grinned and before Saber's eyes, traced a sleek longbow and a hefty sum of arrows stationed on his hip. Saber blinked in surprise. She definitely didn't expect him to do that but she shouldn't have been so surprised. After all, Shirou is a tracer at heart and Tracing is his strongest ability.

Saber nodded towards Shirou before tossing a rock quickly into the air with impressive strength. Without bothering to check on him, she grabbed more rocks and hurled them in different directions. She repeated the process, hurling rocks everywhere until her hand grabbed empty air.

**Bam!**

**Bam!**

**Bam!**

**Bam!**

**Bam!**

**Bam!**

Saber watched in astonishment as Shirou seemed to spin on his heels and shooting without pause. All his arrows seared into the air and landed perfectly onto the center of each stone, shattering them to fine dust. Shirou stopped and raised his bow up above his head. With his eyes closed, he released the last arrow and shattered the final rock above him. A shower of pebbles rained on him but Shirou ignored them as he opened his eyes and grinned at Saber's astonished expression.

"Archery has always been my favorite form of fighting." He explained. "I have always been exceptional in it." Saber nodded, still too stunned to voice her bewilderment. "So are we moving ahead to melee?"

She finally found her voice. "Ah y-yes. I have heard from Sakura-san that you have also trained in that as well. I will merely spar with you as that teaches you on all the fundamentals quicker than lessons."

"Fine. What is your preferred weapon?" Saber looked at Shirou in surprise. "A double-edged longsword." She replied uncertainly. Shirou nodded. "Any preferred length?"

"Ninety-two centimeters."

"Alright then." Shirou closed his eyes and concentrated. The magic curcuit on his arm glowed with a golden light as the image of a longsword came into view. "Trace on."

In his hands, the frame of the sword materialized. Shirou kept his eyes closed as his magic curcuit glowed with warming mana. A golden light bathed the longsword and before she knew it, Saber was staring at a perfect replica of a Western longsword. Shirou tested the weight and feel of the weapon before giving a satisfied nod and handed it to Saber. "Like that right?"

Saber tested the weight and feel of the weapon on her hands. To her surprise, the handle felt surprisingly soft and easy to move. More importantly, the sword's weight was almost the same as her own to which, she was grateful for. As Saber raised her head to give Shirou her thanks, he was already done tracing his own weapons. Two short falchions rested in his hands as comfortably as if he had practiced his entire life.

"Both our weapons are extremely dull so not to cause those nasty injuries." Shirou held his falchions in a readied stance. "So fight as if this were a real fight."

"As my Master commands." Saber charged head long towards his direction and swiped upwards from her sword. It swung in a wide arc that should have been easy to block but the speed was incredible. Shirou couldn't block it and was forced to dodge out of the way. Saber took the miss in stride and swung her blade to the side with the same frightening speed.

This time, Shirou blocked it with one of his falchions and with a flip of his wrist, caused Saber to stumble. Seizing the chance, he swung his other falchion downwards as fast as he could, hoping for a quick victory.

It wasn't to be. Saber had already swung her blade upwards to intercept his falchion and a loud **Clang! **echoed through the backyard. The vibration from that force caused Shirou to feel pain spreading from his hand but he forced the feeling away as he leaped to a side and used the momentum of his jump to bounce off the ground and to another side.

Saber released her breath and held her sword ready in a standard stance. Seeing as how she wasn't going to take the initiative, Shirou charged forward instead. As he got close enough, he feinted right and crouched downwards to swipe at her legs. Saber had already seen the trickery and leaped up. While in the air, she attempted to swipe downwards to his head but Shirou had just managed to lower it enough so as not to get hit. Before Saber could land, Shirou was already out of her range again, this time he was breathing a little more heavily.

"The warm-up is over." Saber held her blade in a rushing stance. "I believe the real spar shall begin now." Shirou stared. He thought that what they were doing _was _the spar! _'Ah crap...'_ He thought in misery. _'This is going to hurt so much.'_

"Here I come Shirou! Ready your blades!"

_'Shit!' _

_---_

"Shirou are you absolutely sure that you do not require aid?" Shirou grunted as he moved some pots and food around in the kitchen. "Just because you decorated my body with bruises doesn't mean I'm helpless when it comes to making food."

Saber sighed. "You said that you wanted us to fight in earnest. I was not about to dishonor your pride by going easy on you."

"Hmph, so you decide to pound me to the ground like ground beef."

"What was that?"

"Ah nothing!" Shirou sighed. _'Note to self: Do not ever mutter discouragement next to the cause of it.' _He grunted to himself and began chopping up some vegetables. _'Maa I suppose having a regular lunch won't be so bad. I'm too tired and bruised up to be making any extreme Western or Eastern styles right now.'_

"Saber, I'm going to make a regular style lunch. Is that alright with you?" The blonde Servant looked at Shirou with a surprised expression. She must not have thought her opinion would matter. "Of course, any type would be susceptible as long as it has the right balance of flavors."

_'Heh, never thought her to be a critic.' _Shirou smiled to himself as he brought the vegetables to the pot and began stirring the contents with care.

---

Saber looked at the dishes placed on the table in wonderment. During her time with her previous Master, the type of foods prepared were almost always traditional Japanese. Now, with Shirou, these dishes looked so foreign that she couldn't quite tell if they would be good or not.

"Er... I was too tired to make anything amazing some these simple sandwiches and the soup will just have to do." Shirou, despite being so tired and disgruntled, was feeling guilty. After all, he had prided himself on being a good cook and yet, these dishes didn't even scratch what he could do. "Ah but don't worry! Tonight I'll go and make something good so think of this as an appetizer for what's to come!"

Saber was silent as she held one of the sandwich slices in her small hands. With a small amount of doubt and suspicion, she brought it to her mouth and took a small bite.

Her world was immediately flooded with the wonderful feel of the soft bread and the contents inside the sandwich. Saber's eyes widened in surprise and she had completely forgotten to hold on to the sandwich. The white bread and contents within were held by her soft mouth.

Saber, after a moment of silence, voiced her opinion in the most neutral voice she could muster. "It's... quite good. Your skills as a cook is definitely good."

"Huh?" Shirou scratched the back of his head in embarassment. "Er well, I suppose it's okay." He suddenly remembered something and stood up. "I forgot to pour out the soup! Help yourself to the sandwiches Saber. There's plenty more on the counter." As Shirou walked away, Saber gulped down the sandwich and relished the way it slid down her throat so easily. She sighed in contentment before reaching out to get another sandwich.

_'Heh, I didn't expect the sandwiches to be that delicious.' _Shirou mused to himself as he scooped up the creamy soup with a ladle. _'Hmm, maybe it's because she never tasted sandwiches before.' _Well she had the chance now and Shirou was embarassed that she thought they were so good. Perhaps he should go ahead and make more of those sandwiches everyday just to see if she reacts with the same expression. _'Maa, I'm getting too ahead of myself. I should ask Tosaka and Sakura for their opinion first. It wouldn't do to have the same thing if they don't want to.'_

Shirou shook his head as he carried the bowls of soup over towards the table. However, he stopped as he saw the empty plate on the table that was previously filled with sandwiches. He swerved his eyes over to the blonde girl who was sitting Japanese style on the mat and with an extremely red blush. _'Wow... guess she was more hungry than I thought.'_

Shirou chuckled and handed her a bowl. "I hope Clam Chowder is good for you. I putted in some seasonings so that the taste wouldn't be as bland." Saber mumbled a quiet thank you and took a spoonful of the creamy white soup to her mouth. Without waiting for her reaction, Shirou went over to the counter to fetch the rest of the sandwiches.

When he returned, he stared at the empty bowl on the table. "Maa... I guess you were quite hungry huh?"Shirou chuckled. "There's plenty more so help yourself." The red-faced Saber nodded but otherwise, remained quiet.

"Oooh? You two started lunch without us?" Shirou jumped a little and turned around to see Rin standing there with a smirk on her face. The girl ignored him as she made her way over to the pot on the stove and took a small sip of the soup. As she tasted the clam chowder, her face broke out in a victorious smirk. "Hehehe, I'll definitely win this."

"Huh?"

"Ahh... forgive me Sempai." Shirou inclined his head to the side to see Sakura blushing and giving him a guilty smile. "I told Tosaka-sempai that you were a very good cook. I think she took that as a challenge."

"And make no mistake, you are definitely going to lose Shirou!"

Shirou groaned. "Thanks Sakura." The purple-haired beauty gave him an apologetic smile before making her way towards the table. Rin was already sitting, gloating over her eventual victory over Shirou in cooking. The red-headed magus sighed in resignation as he walked over to join them. Thus began the comfortable, if not unusual meal.

---

"Whew! For such a simple lunch, it definitely filled me up." Rin sighed in satisfaction as she plopped down on the couch. Sakura was at the kitchen, being busy fixing tea for everyone while Shirou was resting his body.

Rin suddenly frowned. Something about Shirou was definitely off. According to Sakura, Shirou had suffered a major injury by Berserker two days ago. He was nearly cleaved in half by the enormous Servant and its Master, Illyasviel von Einzbern. In fact, the only thing that was holding his two halves together was his spinal cord and it too was damaged by the force of Berserker's attack. However, Shirou recovered at an alarming rate and now, he looked like nothing had even happened in the first place. Such a quick regeneration was not possible by a normal magus.

_'Well... I suppose his Servant could have sped up his healing but I'm not sure Saber would know any healing spells.' _Rin sighed and closed her eyes. Thinking about Shirou brings enough headaches as it is. She didn't feel like thinking about his injuries and his miraculous recovery.

"Here you go Tosaka-sempai." Rin opened her eyes to see Sakura smiling at her and pointing at the cup of green tea on the table. "Ah, thank you Sakura." Rin accepted the cup and drank the green beverage. The tea soothed her headache and Rin smiled. It was good.

She swept her eyes over to Saber, who was sitting next to her Master and currently accepting the tea offered. Rin frowned again. From what she had remembered, Saber's sword was already shown and it should have been easy to recognize it but she had somehow forgotten what it had looked like and Archer had refused to tell her what it actually was.

_'That arrogant bastard.' _Rin growled to herself. _'I should go ahead and use another command seal just to get him to talk.' _It was to her embarassment that she had used up a command seal right when she summoned Archer. It wasn't her fault! It was that arrogant bastard thinking that he could walk over her and not suffer any consequences!

Sakura looked over towards Rin in worry. She looked like she was quite angry. Although Sakura herself was still bitter over Rin's naivety over her lineage, Sakura couldn't really do much to get her to listen. After all, Rin was probably forcefully made to forget about her and all the times they had been together.

_'I suppose now would be a good time to get to know her again.' _Sakura spoke up towards Rin, who snapped to attention on hearing her voice. "Ano, Tosaka-sempai, is something the matter?"

"Ah, no nothing is wrong Saku-" Rin, Sakura, and Shirou suddenly all tensed as a massive wave of mana flooded through their senses. Saber stood up and donned her silver armor again. The space behind both Sakura and Rin suddenly shimmered and both Rider and Archer appeared in full alert and with their respective weapons ready.

"Rin, what is this evil mana?" Shirou stood up as well and his face was sweating slightly from the way the mana flooded his body. It felt like the mana had wanted to tear through his body and lay waste to his very soul. Shirou held onto his chest. _'This mana, why does it seem so familiar?'_

Rin gritted her teeth. "It's the boundary field placed on the school." Sakura gasped and Shirou narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Someone had destroyed my seals and reactivated those placed before it. Everyone in the school is in danger!"

"Then let's go." Shirou traced his bow with startling speed and his command seals all glowed crimson with the amount of mana he poured into it. Saber felt the immense strength flowing into her and replenish her slightly depleted reserves. She raised her arms and with a small murmur, summoned her sword, a blade of silver light and blue hilt. "We have to save everyone in the school before it's too late."

---

**A/N: Whoo, totally tired. Haha my bad everyone. Anyways, some things to address. I know that Saber doesn't really have to eat because she now has a proper well of mana to draw upon but I want her to eat anyways because she's so cute when she's a glutton. **

**To all those ShirouXSaber fans, This chapter had a lot of the pairing so it should make up for last chapter which was mostly Sakura and Shirou. **

**To address Saber's different sword, my theory is that her original spell, The Boundary of the Wind King, was something she used both to hide her Noble Phantasm and to conserve her energy. If she were to have a large supply of mana to draw upon, She wouldn't need that spell but would need to hide her Noble Phantasm because it is so famous. So, I decided to just mask it behind a regular Western Longsword instead. Besides, The Boundary of the Wind King is such a cheap spell and I feel like letting some of the strong Servants being able to attack without fear for once. **

**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... School's gonna start again... Cries**

**REVIEW OR LANCER WILL BITE YOU!!!!!!!**


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